Sister
by Mistress Krane
Summary: Adopted by the Uchiha family after her parents are murdered, Sakura grows up leaving her past far behind her. It was only a matter of time before one event came along to send her back into the mysteries of that very same past. high school AU, ItaSakuSasu
1. Prologue: Snapshots

**Title: **Sister

**Authoress: **Mistress Krane

**Summary: **Daughter to the head of one of the biggest corporations in Japan, young Sakura is only five years old when her parents are murdered. Fleeing for her life with only a necklace and her memories, she is found and adopted by the Uchiha family, who take her in and raise her as their own. Growing up in a setting of warmth, love, and happiness, it was only a matter of time before a single event sent her spiraling back down into the mysteries of her past. high school AU, ItaSakuSasu

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

**A/N: **To celebrate the new year, I've decided to try to pull up a new fanfic idea that I had. This chapter is composed of literally nothing but flashbacks that set up parts of the foundation for the relationships that are important throughout the fic; the first section that is italicized is more important to the plot of it all. Concerning Train: I sincerely apologize for my lack of updates the past year, but I'm still not sure if I'm going to delete the work or follow through with my idea to revamp and edit it accordingly to fit my writing style at this point. Well, more notes to come at the end: on with the story!

* * *

"_Sakura-sama, you must leave at once!"_

_The frightened five-year-old's eyes widened in shock as the sword pierced the servant's stomach without mercy, sending him falling to the floor. From her place underneath the desk she could discern the masked killer stalking out into the hallway, conversing with a companion in harsh tones. Sounds of broken glass crunching and furniture breaking echoed throughout the mansion, but Sakura, remembering her parents' careful instructions, swallowed her broken sobs and rushed out from her hiding spot._

_Not having been seen by the intruders, the pinkette slipped into the kitchen successfully. Her heart aching and her head pounding, she snuck into the lower compartments of the shelves, ignoring the cleaning supplies stored within. Kaasan had shown her this escape route many times over, stressing its importance as she had taught her about the five critical evacuation points in the house. If anything were to happen, she had been told, she was to use the point closest to her._

_Wiping her tears with the back of her hand, Sakura crawled into the dark hole hidden by a thin layer of removable wood and moved forward. The action was so routine that she could easily imagine her parents waiting for her at the end of the pathway, proud smiles lighting their features as she completed her task._

_The cold, cramped escape shaft soon gave way to the chilling evening air as she appeared outside the western side of the mansion, alone. There was no one to greet her, no one to congratulate her as she fled the building, leaving her parents behind to be murdered. Memories flooded through her mind of her tousan, handing her a necklace for her birthday and reminding her every day never to lose it, and her kaasan, telling her that if anything were to happen to them to stay safe and happy._

_Feet brushing the damp grass as she sprinted madly across the fields, Sakura huffed and sobbed, clutching the piece of jewelry around her neck with a desperate grip. Abandoning her family and saving herself felt sickening, even if this was something that she had been relentlessly ordered to do if the situation ever arose. Being told to keep herself safe until the time was right was one of the last commands that her parents had given her before sending her away to hide and run._

_Coming to a halt before an unmarked train station, the young girl felt herself wobble and collapse, vision darkening and spinning as she fell unconscious._

_XXX_

"_Fugaku, look at this poor girl," said a motherly voice ridden with anxiety. "She was just laying there passed out at the edge of the train station. I had just gotten off of the train to buy a bottle of water when I spotted her there: the stop was deserted and it seemed as if no one ever came by. The manager said that he hadn't seen anybody around since daylight, and he was clueless as to whose daughter she might be."_

"_Was there a town nearby?" This voice sounded serious and full of authority._

"_No dear, it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. No cities within miles, and I couldn't spot any houses around. It was much too dark at the time."_

"_So this girl appeared out of thin air? The manager had never seen her before?"_

"_There had not been any parents searching for their children or anything of the sort the entire day. He hadn't even seen her step off of the train, Fugaku. I wasn't going to leave her there."_

"_I wasn't suggesting that." A pause. "What an unusual hair color - pink of all things. She's too young to have dyed it, though it looks strangely natural, doesn't it?"_

"_She's such an adorable little thing. I wonder why someone would abandon her like this."_

_When it seemed that there wasn't much left to say, Sakura cracked open her eyes, revealing a soft emerald gaze to the two harried—though the man appeared much more composed—figures before her. The woman seemed the more expressive of the two, her elegant features burdened with a heavy anxiety as she looked at her. The man, Fugaku, had a cold countenance about him, though there wasn't a lack of worry in his expression as well._

_They both watched carefully as the small pinkette attempted to pull herself into a sitting position, using the pillow as a back brace against the bed's headboard. She seemed well enough without their assistance, much to Fugaku's silent approval._

"_Do you feel alright? Is there anything that you need?" asked the woman, adjusting the pillow briefly. "While your clothes are drying you can go ahead and wear my younger son's clothes. They seem to fit you perfectly."_

_Looking down at the navy blue t-shirt that she was sporting, Sakura picked at the fabric curiously._

"_Thank you very much," she offered with a small smile. These strangers seemed nice and sincere, and they apparently weren't aware of who she was or what had happened to her parents. Thinking back, she realized that her parents had also given her specific instructions about another identity that she was to use. Tears prickled behind her eyes: had they known that this would happen?_

"_What is your name?" asked Fugaku, voice controlled as he discreetly observed the girl._

"_H-Haruno Sakura," she replied, a frightened tremor in her voice. The sight of her building tears triggered an unfamiliar stir in Fugaku's stomach, and he turned his gaze back to his wife quickly._

"_Do you know where your parents are?" the woman asked kindly, sitting herself on the bed. Reaching out to pat the tearing child's head, she smiled warmly._

_Sniffling as the tears began to pour, Sakura shook her head, thoughts moving as hastily along as her unusually bright five year old mind would let her. She wouldn't disappoint her parents by putting herself in danger. "I don't have any parents," she half-lied. She wasn't sure whether or not they were still alive, but she had the feeling that if these people dug too much they would put themselves in danger as well. They shouldn't be hurt, too._

"_Do you remember why you were at the train station?" asked Fugaku after a few moments of silence. He didn't want to remain on such a touchy subject for too long, but he found it slightly disturbing that a child could survive without parental guidance for any extended period of time._

_Sakura shook her head, averting her gaze and wiping her cheeks._

"_Mikoto, may I speak with you in the kitchen?"_

_The woman named Mikoto nodded, standing from the bed._

"_You should go to sleep for now, Sakura-chan. We'll be back soon."_

_Bending down to give Sakura a meaningful hug, Mikoto offered her one more smile before following her husband out of the room._

_Laying down, clutching her chest, the broken five year old choked back a sob, mourning her family and her old life. Finding sanctuary in the small pendant secured around her neck, Sakura wondered just what these changes meant for her as she drifted back into her slumber._

* * *

"Good morning Sasuke-kun, how was your week at your obaa-san's house?" asked Mikoto with a smile, ushering her son into the house. His older brother followed suit, to whom she placed a kiss upon his head. "Good morning, Itachi-kun."

"Good morning okaa-san," Itachi returned with a small smile.

"Aniki taught me how to make a paper flower. We made a bunch of them and gave them to obaa-san," Sasuke chattered excitedly as they walked to the kitchen. "She said that she really liked them, and she put them in a bowl to put on the table."

"That was very nice of you boys," Mikoto replied, pulling the door open.

Inside of the kitchen the two young brothers were met with an only slightly unusual scene. Fugaku, as usual, was drinking his morning tea with the newspaper in hand, dressed for work. The pot still showed traces of steam and all of the chairs were in order. What was abnormal about the scene was a small pink-haired girl seated on the ground in front of the table, chewing on a stick of dango and staring at them with a smile.

"Good morning, Mikoto-san," she waved, chewing the sweet with a dainty elegance. Her smile was warm and curious as she watched the three step into the room, but she didn't budge an inch at the pointed stares from the two boys. "Are they your two sons?"

"Yes Sakura-chan, they are," Mikoto laughed, gently pushing the duo forward. "Go ahead and introduce yourselves."

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke," the younger beamed proudly. "I'm five."

"My name is Uchiha Itachi," the elder introduced politely. "I am seven years old."

Standing herself up, Sakura giggled, bowing.

"My name's Haruno Sakura, and I'm five like you, Sasuke-kun. Mikoto-san and Fugaku-san told me that I might be living with you guys from now on. Nice to meet you."

Mikoto laughed once again at their shocked expressions, patting their heads. She had always wanted a daughter after all, and Fugaku seemed to be getting used to the idea; they weren't going to send her out on her own without anyone to take care of her. Luckily Sakura had had a week to adjust to them as well as the house before meeting the boys, so the transition was a lot smoother than was to be expected.

"Kaa-san, I don't want to share aniki with her," huffed Sasuke childishly, hugging Itachi. Just because he had to share the house with her, he had no intention of sharing his beloved big brother with her.

Puffing her cheeks angrily, Sakura carefully set down her dango stick and walked over to the two, looking at Itachi. He didn't say anything, merely raising a brow in question.

"I'm your new sister, Itachi-kun, and Sasuke-kun is being mean to me," she said matter-of-factly. "You're supposed to help me."

Feeling his lips twitch at the expectant expression on her face, Itachi looked down at Sasuke, who was glaring angrily at the pinkette.

"Otouto."

"Yes aniki?"

"Be nicer to Sakura."

Mikoto, who was watching the scene from beside Fugaku, felt herself smiling at the three. Said husband smirked in amusement as well, finding the situation almost pleasant. It was quite different from how his mornings usually began, but now it somehow felt more complete. Perhaps taking Sakura in would prove to be good for all of them.

"But-"

Sasuke was cut off by Sakura's triumphant laughter, and he harrumphed unhappily, releasing Itachi.

"Why is your forehead so big?" he asked sullenly, reaching over to poke it with his index finger. Having been defeated for the most part, the young Uchiha had naturally resorted to pointing out the feature most prominent to him in his begrudging curiosity to change the subject. "I didn't know they could get so big."

Laughter ceasing almost immediately, Sakura raised a brow in incredulous outrage. Oh, he was so _not_ going there.

"My forehead isn't that big."

Sasuke smirked then, recognizing a sore spot when he saw one.

"Are you kidding Sakura-chan? It's huge."

"Eh? No it's not Sasuke-kun!"

Itachi observed the two with interest, having not seen Sasuke so bold before. He had noticed that his otouto tended to be quiet around most children his age, save for his blonde-haired best friend, and so seeing him so riled up with this young girl was a fairly nice surprise. Looking over at Sakura, he wondered why his parents had decided to take her in. Maybe she was the daughter of a family friend who needed help.

"Aniki!"

"Itachi-kun!"

"Don't ask aniki for help, he's my brother!"

"So? I can still ask. _He's _nice."

The Uchiha mother interceded then, stepping between the bickering children to play peacemaker. Handing Sasuke a dirty plate and Sakura a drying rag, she pointed to the sink authoritatively. Implications clear, Mikoto kept her expression neutral as the two continued their bickering as they walked. She wasn't actually angry at all, having expected such minor issues, but she had a natural mother's instinct whenever it came to arguing inside of the house. (though with such quiet sons, it hadn't really been an issue until now)

Itachi, sighing softly, made his way over to his chair beside Fugaku, settling himself. Having another person in the house didn't bother him personally, but looking at Sakura now, her vibrant pink hair and lively disposition so much different from his family's fairly cold tendencies, he couldn't help feeling almost eager at the prospect of change apparent in the near future. With someone like her around things were bound to become more interesting.

"Are you alright Itachi-kun?"

Looking up at his mother with a small smirk, he nodded wordlessly.

"Bye Fugaku-san!" called Sakura suddenly, turning away from the dishes to wave to the departing Uchiha patriarch. He was standing from his chair about to head for the door when he caught sight of her grinning at him. "Good luck at work!"

Hiding his surprise he nodded to Sakura in acknowledgment, accepting a goodbye kiss from Mikoto before heading out of the kitchen, suitcase in hand.

Sasuke, seeing that he had temporarily lost the pinkette's attention, splashed her slightly with the dishwater. She turned back to him with an indignant cry of complaint, missing his self-satisfied smile as she hit him lightly in the head with the towel.

**X**

Itachi sat silently on the windowsill, looking through the glass and up at the stars. Sleep had evaded him for the past few hours and, seeing that it was a cloudless night, he had crawled closer to the window to get a peek at the moon.

The moon had often dealt him a great deal of curiosity as he had wondered about the astronomy of the galaxy, and seeing it so clearly helped him to relax and drift. Okaa-san would surely scold him if she caught him awake at this hour, but he couldn't prevent the upwards tilt of his lips at the thought.

Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back against the wall. He didn't know how long he sat there, floating in and out of consciousness, but just as he was about to fall into a slumber, an almost unnoticeable tug awakened him again.

Eyes snapping open, Itachi ran a hand through his hair in irritation. Why couldn't he sleep? Normally, amidst such a precarious lull between sleep and, of course, not, the favorable of the two would pan out.

Lost in quiet contemplation, the elder Uchiha brother almost didn't notice when a similar tug came once again. This time he realized that the jerk had an origin, and his obsidian gaze landed on a small, hunched figure standing beside him. Pink hair ruffled and plain white pajamas sufficiently wrinkled, the petite source of his lack of sleep seemed to be waiting for something, her hand gripping the hem of his shirt.

"Sakura?" he said in slight surprise. Her head was bowed, hiding her features from him as she drew a shuddering breath.

"I-I'm your new sister, Itachi-kun," Sakura began, voice weak and vulnerable. She didn't see Itachi's eyes widen as she recounted her words from a year prior. "And I had a scary nightmare. You're supposed to protect me."

Lifting her head, the six year old stared up at him with watery emerald eyes, lip trembling as tears rolled down her cheeks. Her pale skin shone in the moonlight, features drained of their color in obvious fright.

Seeing Sakura, who was always warm and energetic, so afraid caused worry to course like a poison through Itachi's veins, almost freezing his movements. He had never seen her so utterly petrified, but the fact that she had come to him for comfort worked to thaw his muscles considerably. Wordlessly inviting Sakura up onto the windowsill with him, he wrapped his arms around her and helped her up to lay against his chest.

"What has scared you?" asked Itachi softly, not entirely used to being in such a situation. Whenever Sasuke had had problems at night, he suspected that their mother had been the one to offer him support in place of himself, for he had never had any late night visitors peeking into his room. His experience in this particular field was sorely lacking, even with a younger sibling, but knowing Sakura fairly well helped him assume what would be best for her at the moment. Quiet support seemed to be the first choice.

"I-I thought that you, Sasuke-kun, Mikoto-san, and Fugaku-san were d-dead," Sakura stuttered, wiping her eyes. She turned around to stare at Itachi's sharp, familiar features, as if she were trying to convince herself that he was really there. Finding security in his steady, unwavering gaze, she found herself calming down.

"I'm right here Sakura. I am not dead."

Nodding slowly to herself, Sakura wrapped her arms around him, hugging the Uchiha to her tightly. The warmth of his body soothed her immensely, and soon her breathing became stable once again. Itachi's even heartbeat thumped against her ear, offering her concrete proof that he wasn't dead and was in fact here with her. A few minutes passed in silence as Sakura regained herself, Itachi acting as her silent source of comfort.

Raising her head to find Itachi looking down at her, concern lightly touching his features, Sakura smiled in thanks.

"Good job, Itachi-kun," she sniffed, smile widening. Emerald eyes regaining their sparkle, she hugged him once again. Voice muffled by the fabric of his shirt, she added, "I'm happy that I get to be your only little sister."

Unable to stop the small smile warming his eyes, Itachi reached over to pat her head. The action caused her to glance up at him in question but, receiving nothing in reply but a shake of the head, Sakura stuck her tongue out at him and withdrew her hold. Turning around to look up and out the window in curiosity, her eyes widened at the overwhelming amount of twinkling stars visible around the crescent moon.

"It's so pretty," Sakura marveled. She hadn't gotten many chances to see the full night sky so intimately, having always been subjected to early bedtimes and a restricted ability to actually stay awake past ten o'clock at best. Seeing it now, with Itachi, it seemed so magical: she felt like she could reach out and steal a star right out of the sky.

"Hey Itachi-kun," she began, wondering on her thoughts, thoroughly distracted from her earlier distress. "Can you catch a star for me?"

From behind her Sakura could feel Itachi's chest rumbling as his quiet chuckles filled her ears.

"One day, I will catch a star for you."

The pinkette twisted back to look at him, and he caught sight of her hopeful—but doubtful—eyes. She had always been very intelligent, Itachi admitted silently to himself, even considering her age.

"Really? How do you know?"

Itachi smirked at the challenge in her words. Patting her head again, he found himself amused at her huffing in reaction and mused idly over doing it more often.

"I'm your new brother, Sakura. Am I not supposed to try?"

Grinning, all traces of fear from her earlier nightmare replaced with affectionate warmth toward the boy beside her, Sakura nodded in agreement.

"Now you're getting it, Itachi-kun."

**X**

The summer sun blazed relentlessly down upon the school grounds, heating the playground metal and the entrance gates alike. Cool onyx eyes gazed through the glass of the classroom window as the faint hum of the sensei's lecture drowned in the background; break was so close yet so far away, and Sasuke's patience was gradually wearing thin.

If not for the light kick to his desk from behind, courtesy of one Haruno Sakura, Sasuke would have missed the few minutes of free time granted to them by the sensei as she sat to read over a personal novel of hers.

The class predictably split into its respective groupings, friends merging to discuss summer plans and last minute assignments or, in his case, fangirls coming to his desk to harass his summer plans out of him.

"Sasuke-kun, are you going to the fireworks celebration next Friday?"

"Sasuke-kun, do you want to go with me to the amusement park sometime? I'll pay for the tickets."

"Sasuke-kun, we definitely have to hang out this summer."

Not replying to any of the offers and instead pinning the group with a look that clearly stated, 'leave me the hell alone,' Sasuke sighed when he found no tangible effect on the girls. Glancing around the room through the throng of fans, he caught sight of Sakura and Naruto laughing at his misfortune from a fair distance away, practically clutching their stomachs.

From their angle, the blonde and the pinkette found endless amusement in the disgruntled expression of their Uchiha classmate, finding no point in hiding it from his poignant glare. He never seemed to get a break from his followers, not even in the last class before school was officially released on break.

"Why have we never tried to help him before?" asked Naruto, grinning at his best female friend.

"Are you kidding? Those fangirls would eat us alive for getting even remotely close to their Sasuke-kun," Sakura scoffed, having learned from past experience that talking to Sasuke during school unless absolutely necessary was a bad idea. The past four years of primary school had only been bearable thanks to Naruto, who had befriended her as soon as she had walked through the door discreetly behind Sasuke her first day of school here, and she had so far adjusted accordingly.

"Right, right. I'm sure he can manage just fine without us."

"Don't worry Naruto-kun, I'll treat the grouch to ice cream on the way home," Sakura assured him with a wave of her hand. The heat was supposed to be killer today anyway, and the walk back to the house would be much more pleasant with some frozen treats. "Means I'll have to buy one for Itachi-kun, too."

"Hey Sakura-chan, what would happen if the school found out that you, Sasuke, and Itachi were liv-"

Catching sight of Kiba approaching them, Sakura haphazardly covered the blonde's mouth with her hand. Having anybody find out that she was living with the 'famed' Uchiha brothers would be disastrous to her relatively low-key reputation. Even with her pink hair, compared to Sasuke and Itachi she was fairly normal, and she preferred it that way.

"Having fun there?" Kiba smirked, sitting on the desk beside them. Eyeing their position with a disinterested look, he raised an eyebrow. "What did you do this time Naruto? It looks like your big mouth got you into trouble again."

Freeing his mouth as soon as she was sure that he wouldn't finish his earlier sentence, Sakura sighed, idly wondering why the whiskered blonde's skin seemed a little warmer than usual. She chalked it up to the heat wave roiling outside.

"The idiot was just being needlessly stupid," she told Kiba, glaring daggers at the sheepish Naruto. His spiky hair ruffled and his cerulean eyes sparkling, he was the cover boy for mischief in her book.

"Ne, don't be so mean Sakura-chan," Naruto whined, scratching his head at the distrustful look she was shooting him. "You know I'm just joking around, right?"

"All the time," laughed Kiba, used to Naruto's playful antics. He looked at the clock and, noticing that there was only about a minute left before dismissal, grinned toothily at Sakura. "So, Sakura, do you want to maybe go with me to the amusement park next weekend? My treat."

Eyes sharpening at Kiba's ulterior motive for approaching them Sakura, though inwardly flattered, reached over to flick him in the side of the head. An unwanted blush had pinkened her cheeks but she scowled playfully, pretending not to notice.

"You know I don't date, Kiba." Her scowl softened into a smile of gratitude. "But thanks for the offer."

The Inuzuka just smiled, looking guilty as he rubbed his head.

"Hey, it was worth a shot."

The sound of the dismissal bell seemed to echo throughout the school, spurring the whole classroom into a frenzied rush as boys and girls hurried to leave the building. Even Kiba, rejected but undeterred, waved shortly before joining the students eagerly, ready to enjoy his vacation.

Sakura and Naruto merely sauntered over to their desks to grab their schoolbags before meeting up with Sasuke, who was waiting for them at the front of the room. There was no need to hurry: after all, they still had to wait for Itachi to catch up with them and the flood of students would have been troublesome to work through. Might as well take their time.

"Hey Sasuke-kun," Sakura greeted innocently, working to keep her laughter in check at his brooding expression. She had seen that face a million times over, but it never got old.

Naruto, who was having similar thoughts, didn't attempt to hide his laughter as the trio set off into the hallway. A few students were still exiting the building, but they instinctively kept to the edge of the corridor at the aura of the third, less cheerful member of the group.

Sasuke, said less cheerful member, just grunted at the two, hand not carrying his bag shoved into his pocket. All he wanted to do was meet up with Itachi and get home without any incident. Sakura and Naruto, sensing his wishes, blatantly ignored them and grinned in unison, each grabbing an arm.

"Oh come on Sasuke, you aren't really upset about us laughing at you, are you? We do it all the time," the pinkette wheedled, dragging the Uchiha down the hallway. "Mikoto-san was right, you _are_ getting a little more sensitive or whatever."

"I am not."

"You know that we can't help you teme," piped Naruto, grinning like mad. It was always fun to mess with his best friend, especially with Sakura as his helper. She was one of the select few who were immune to his death glares, other than his fangirls for some reason, and was surprisingly very good at getting him riled up. He suspected that it was a gift earned from years of living with him. "Otherwise we'd get attacked. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

"Yes, I would," Sasuke replied acidly, forcing himself and his holders to a complete stop. Regaining control of his limbs by shaking the two off, he gave Sakura an especially irritated look before continuing on. It seemed that he really wasn't in a very good mood.

Having learned not to take those expressions seriously, Sakura just shrugged, catching up with him easily. Itachi always knew what to do to get Sasuke out of his cranky streaks, so for the walk out of the school building she would talk to Naruto to let the boy simmer.

"Can you believe that Kiba asked you out, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked with a frown, hands tucked behind his head as he walked. He appeared to be making small talk while at the same time trying to complain to her about the idea of her actually going out with someone, so she wasn't sure whether to go along with it or kick him out the window for being overprotective. "I mean, doesn't he know that you're technically off the market?"

Hearing nothing utterly offending to her feminity, Sakura decided to just go with it.

"What do you mean, 'technically off the market?'"

Naruto didn't reply, pointing to Sasuke instead. Momentarily confused, Sakura leaned forward to get a better look at the Uchiha's facial expression, nothing the narrowed eyes and apparent worsening of his already sour mood.

"Inuzuka asked you on a date, Sakura?"

Feeling her eyes narrow in response to the territorial sort of protectiveness in his voice, Sakura planted her hands on her hips. It sounded like he didn't _approve _of her dating either, which was pretty outrageous. Since when did he and Naruto become her watchdogs?

"Why yes he did, Sasuke-kun. Do you have a problem with that?" asked the pinkette dangerously, grip tightening on her schoolbag as she prepared to smack him with it. They were getting close to the school exit, so she could easily knock both him and the bonehead who brought it up down the stairs once they got there.

"You know we just want to protect you, Sakura-chan," replied Naruto hurriedly, answering in place of Sasuke. "Who knows what kind of creepy things that these guys can do to you?"

"It's Kiba. And he invited me to the amusement park."

"Did you say yes?"

"Of course not-"

"Hn."

Eye twitching at the self-satisfied smirk poised on his lips, Sakura whacked him with her bag roughly, not bothering to wait until they arrived at the stairs. Sasuke grunted but said nothing else to communicate his pain, having suffered much abuse from her since their first meeting. She was getting stronger, he admitted to himself as he withheld an unbecoming wince.

Naruto, not wanting to become a second victim, suddenly broke out into a sprint to the door a few inches ahead, shoving it open and leaping over the stairs to land safely on the pavement. Sasuke and Sakura followed suit soon enough, albeit in a less frantic fashion. The latter showed no signs of immediate danger, and he sighed in relief, breathing in the fresh air.

"Are you alright Naruto?"

Jumping at the deeply amused voice behind him, he turned around to find the elder Uchiha brother standing there smirking at him.

"Afternoon, Itachi-san," he greeted politely, feeling unusually tired all of a sudden. Around this guy, the normally impish blonde felt the need to be on his best behavior, and that along with his panicked episode from a moment before, along with the heat, had him feeling exhausted.

Because of his tired state, Naruto merely wobbled and dropped at Sakura's delayed punch to the shoulder.

"Naruto-kun!" his concerned attacker exclaimed, dropping down onto her knees beside him. She grew more worried at the sight of his chapped lips, reaching into her bag to pull out a bottle of water. "This heat is incredible. We just got outside…"

"It's nothing Sakura-chan," the blonde assured her, rubbing his shoulders tenderly. "That was a scary punch."

Itachi crouched down beside the two, feeling Naruto's forehead briefly. His dark gaze sharpened knowingly, worrying the younger boy as he drank from the water bottle.

"What is it, aniki?" Sasuke asked, holding his bag over his head to protect himself from the sun.

"Have you been feeling ill lately?" Itachi asked Naruto searchingly. "Your skin is burning up, even though we've only been out in the sun for a few minutes."

Smiling weakly, Naruto nodded. Leaning on Sakura as he stood, he rubbed his head and finished the remaining water.

"I've had a headache for a few hours now, but I figured I could make it through the rest of the day."

Handing him off to Sasuke for a moment, Sakura pulled a compact umbrella out of her bag and pulled it open, holding it over the blonde's overheated head protectively. "I had a feeling that someone might need this today. Mikoto-san packed it for me just in case."

"You may want to come over to our house for a while until you're feeling better," Itachi suggested quietly, holding the umbrella for Sakura as she bent down to grab Naruto's bag. "I am sure that okaa-san would rather you come with us considering the longer walk to your house."

Sasuke and Sakura agreed readily as the four began to exit the school grounds.

"Sorry about hitting you," Sakura apologized, smiling guiltily.

"At least it wasn't as bad as Sasuke's. His looked like it hurt like a mother."

"Shut up, idiot."

"Sasuke-kun, you deserved it. But I can't believe that you two are so against me dating," Sakura complained, shouldering Sasuke gently. Though she wasn't under the umbrella's shade, she didn't want him bumping into Naruto by accident. "I bet Itachi-kun is more reasonable than you guys."

Itachi, who was standing behind the boys holding the umbrella, frowned. Sakura dating and the duo's reaction must have been what had caused Naruto's panic from earlier. But it was certainly an interesting discussion.

"Has someone asked you on a date, Sakura?"

"Inuzuka Kiba asked her earlier," Sasuke supplied. He couldn't tell what his older brother thought about the subject, but he was fairly confident that he would see it like him and Naruto.

"Did you accept?"

"Of course not."

Hearing Itachi's noncommittal grunt, Sakura turned around to find him smirking. Jaw dropping, she flicked him in the ear, enjoying the spark of surprise that passed through his obsidian eyes.

"Itachi-kun!"

"I'm sorry Sakura, but I agree with Sasuke and Naruto," he admitted, chuckling at her betrayed scoff. "I believe that you deserve better, is all. I'm not sure of the reasons that they may have."

Demeanor softening at the concerned, brotherly explanation offered to her, Sakura reached behind to give Itachi a warm hug. Naruto and Sasuke, who had been expecting a different, more violent reaction, became indignant as they glanced back to find that, instead of a punch or shove, he was being treated like a sensitive elder brother.

"Sakura-chan, that isn't fair!"

"Aniki doesn't deserve special treatment."

"Itachi-kun gave me a much better reason than you two," Sakura grinned, not at all ashamed of showing extra affection to her favorite adopted elder brother. He knew her better than almost anyone, even though he was still in a close race with the two boys in front of her.

Leaning forward to embrace both Naruto and Sasuke she smiled, head resting on their inner shoulders.

"But I guess I can still treat everyone to ice cream. You're all still my boys."

All three smirked in unison, summer sun lighting their path into town clearly as they made their way through the heat and into the nearest ice cream shop.

**X**

"_You're getting fat, Sasuke-kun."_

Sasuke's nose pinched in annoyance, having heard the phrase repeatedly for days. Sakura had so kindly taken to 'getting him extra healthy for the upcoming semester,' and the constant reiterating of the sentence had caused a sort of distinct echo within his mind to erupt.

Even now, as he was lying in his bed with his eyes stubbornly closed, he told himself that her observation was merely a ploy to get him to actually exercise.

He wasn't getting fat.

Tossing back the covers, giving up on sleep, Sasuke stood from his bed. Yawning and scratching his head, grunting at the predawn hour, he walked across the room and pulled his door open, stepping into the hallway. A quiet rustling emitting from the kitchen drew the curiosity of his muddled consciousness and he dragged himself across and down the hall to investigate.

Hair sticking up in disarray to signal his fitful night of sleep, Sasuke stared blankly at the pinkette leaning against the counter from his spot on the threshold of the open kitchen door. Obsidian eyes clearly displaying his disinterest and lack of enthusiasm at her being up so early in the morning, he grunted in greeting as he joined her.

"Morning Sasuke-kun," Sakura smiled, waving and not bothering to hide her shock at seeing him up and about so early. "Did you change your mind about coming with me for some exercise? You look like you could use a nice, long jog to get rid of those extra pounds you put on eating the sweet dumplings from last night."

Sasuke scowled at her blunt and rather insensitive way of wording things. (untrue things, he insisted) The faintest glows of sunrise began to appear in the morning sky, lighting the crystal clear window within the room slightly and drawing his irritated eyes. It was quite a sore reminder that he wasn't supposed to be up before the sun was.

"No, I'm not going Sakura," he replied tersely, reaching over to push her head lightly with the heel of his palm. "I'm going back to bed."

"Why not?" Sakura pouted as she retaliated with a poke to his cheek. His annoyed expression made her laugh quietly, mindful of the others sleeping in the house. "You know, when you make that face you don't look like you're in your second year of middle school."

"It's pointless to go so early in the morning on a Saturday." He was obviously ignoring the latter remark on his apparently immature facial expression. "And it's cold."

Glancing dryly at her morning companion, Sakura pulled the loose jacket from her shoulder and wrapped it around his slouched form. The fit was surprisingly accurate, she noticed, before realizing that she had accidentally grabbed Sasuke's jacket from the rack in place of her own.

Oh well, she could still borrow it.

"See? Now you're not cold anymore."

The vaguely amused light specking Sasuke's eyes as he removed the jacket easily encouraged Sakura to continue her pestering. Any display of emotion coming from Sasuke before seven was progress in her mind.

Approaching Sakura from behind, Sasuke slid the fabric over her shoulder, sliding the sleeves over to cover her arms. As he zipped up the front, reaching around her easily, she leaned back and braced herself against his chest, sighing and yawning.

The action only bothered him for a brief moment, but he relaxed almost automatically: he knew that she was still tired and was used to having him there for support. He supposed that the increasingly touchy affections of his annoying female followers were making him more sensitive toward physical contact of this kind, especially so with Sakura—his closest female companion—and he merely brushed the feeling off with relative ease.

"See?" Sasuke smirked easily, chuckling lowly in response to Sakura's second, smaller yawn. She, still leaning on him, looked up at his expression with clear confusion in her eyes, not understanding his decidedly better mood. "Don't try to tell me that you don't have trouble waking up early either, Sakura. You sound as tired as I do."

Flushing lightly, slightly embarrassed by her blatant shows of fatigue when she had been the one pushing Sasuke to hype up, Sakura eventually shrugged with ease, separating herself from him and walking over to the refrigerator. Opening it up and reaching in to pull out a water bottle, she took a long drink and shook her head to wake herself up.

"Even though I _am_ as tired as you," Sakura began, mussing up her hair haphazardly and ignoring the fact that Sasuke was now watching her with clearly conveyed amusement as opposed to the rather distracted interest that he had been expressing earlier. "The difference between us, my dear Sasuke-kun, is that I'm still willing to exercise for the sake of exercising while you, the one that actually needs to burn off that teddy bear-like chubbiness that you've been accumulating, are unwilling to even try."

Grinning mischievously at the insulted boy's newly irritated scowl, Sakura watched him with a clear challenge in her sharp emerald eyes. Of course the pinkette was just pulling the whole chubby thing out of her ass - Sasuke was by no means gaining any excess body fat from what she could tell. There were merely two reasons as to why she insisted that he exercise.

The first, most obvious reason for her pushing was simply to keep him healthy. She cared very deeply for her adopted family, and with Itachi already keeping himself perfectly fit for athletics by running and lifting weights on a regular basis, (and thus building himself a body that any girl would swoon over, even though Sakura would never admit to having seen it more than absolutely necessary for one living under the same roof as him) she became worried about the younger, less devoted of the brothers. Mikoto and Fugaku had their own methods for maintaining their health, and unless something drastic happened to affect either one of them, she would leave them to themselves.

The second, more secretive and experimental purpose of this was almost purely of Sakura's concern for Sasuke's personal life. She was perfectly comfortable admitting that both he and Itachi, for that matter, were handsome; gorgeous, in fact, to the point of complete unfairness. Yet for some reason, unlike most normal fourteen year old guys, the younger Uchiha had never had a girlfriend.

Actually, now that she thought about it, neither had Itachi: and she found this odd. Knowing them like she did, she really couldn't come up with a satisfactory explanation for the peculiarity, having never really seen either of them interact comfortably with a girl other than herself.

Having had classes with Sasuke for as long as she could remember, Sakura had always quietly, along with Naruto of course, watched over him, searching for any potential love interests or hormonal reactions at the very least from him…and thus far found none.

Itachi, being two grades their senior, wasn't someone she could observe as frequently. Regardless of this minute detail, Sakura talked with him regularly, having practically been as close to him for her entire life as she was to Sasuke and Naruto. She liked to believe that if something significant were to happen in his personal or love life then he would find a way to tell her about it, but as far as she knew he hadn't yet had a girlfriend of any kind.

Sakura, having always been intelligent enough to somehow remain on par with the studious Uchiha family in academics, had a natural curiosity coupled with a scientific drive to help satisfy her wandering thoughts. Thus, as her own little test, she was trying to make Sasuke's physique a little more defined to match with the attractive face that had already brought him many followers and observe any changes in his continued romance-less trend.

And Itachi, well, needless to say, needed no help from her in the muscle department, so she would only go grab him from bed if Sasuke didn't want to-

"I'll come."

The almost strained and frustrated declaration was delivered through clenched teeth, and Sasuke, eyes slightly narrowed, then proceeded to turn and stalk out of the room, leaving a bewildered Sakura standing, uncomprehending, for a few moments before she busted into laughter.

Sasuke was just too easy sometimes.

* * *

_**A/N:**__Just in case the age jumps were hard to follow considering that they were practically buried within the small details of the paragraphs, the layout goes like this:_

_(1):__Sakura, Sasuke: 5 years_

_Itachi: 7 years_

_(2): Sakura, Sasuke: 6 years_

_Itachi: 8 years_

_(3): Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto: 9 years_

_Itachi: 11 years_

_(4): Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto: 14 years_

_Itachi: 16 years_

_In the next chapter, the actual setting of the high school and everything is laid out.(:_

_Yours truly,_

_Mistress Krane_


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **Sister (Ch. 2)

**Authoress: **Mistress Krane

**Summary: **Daughter to the head of one of the biggest corporations in Japan, young Sakura is only five years old when her parents are murdered. Fleeing for her life with only a necklace and her memories, she is found and adopted by the Uchiha family, who take her in and raise her as their own. Growing up in a setting of warmth, love, and happiness, it was only a matter of time before a single event sent her spiraling back down into the mysteries of her past. high school AU, ItaSakuSasu

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

**A/N: **This chapter starts to depict the actual high school life of the characters: I hope y'all enjoy my take on the situation.(: There is definitely going to be some romance involved in this fic (to answer the review of **wiked lovely**) because I don't believe that it's physically possible for me to write anything without. Heh. The family/live-in situation is mostly for plot and opens many opportunities for me as an authoress to play with. Enjoy! :D

* * *

The fact that Sasuke spent more time than her in the bathroom on most school mornings told Sakura that there was something seriously wrong with the boy's head.

Or more like something was seriously wrong with something _on _his head, namely his gravity defying hairstyle; if she didn't know any better, she'd say that the sole reason for the delay was that even he didn't know how to coax his hair into decent submission in a timely manner.

The problem was that with the tardiness already seeping into the morning routine thus far, Sakura really didn't seem to know any better.

Encouraged by her personal, unfailing logic that Sasuke was only taking forever because he needed help with his hair, the pink-haired high school first year knocked twice on the bathroom door. Gripping the knob, unlocked because of multiple issues with the keyhole that they had been having, Sakura vocalized her intention to enter before pushing the door open without a second thought.

"Sakura, don't-"

Not having heard the panicked warnings issued to her by a shocked Sasuke, Sakura came upon the sight of her Uchiha housemate standing stock still in front of the mirror wearing only his Konoha Gakuen uniform grey slacks with a towel hanging around his neck. His hands had paused midway through what she assumed was the process of styling his hair, ironically enough, so she figured that she wasn't completely in the wrong for barging in.

Sasuke's initial surprise at being disturbed at such a potentially awkward time morphed into mild trepidation as Sakura's embarrassment was quickly replaced with anger. Though he couldn't help but find it unfair that she was the one that seemed upset when she had been the one to intrude upon him, he was smart enough to know that whatever she could possibly be mad about had to do with the fact that he wasn't ready for school yet. It was probably best to stay quiet.

"What the hell, Sasuke-kun! You aren't even dressed yet?" Sakura asked in disbelief, raising an eyebrow. While she was inwardly happy that in his shirtless state the muscles that she and Itachi had worked hard to help him achieve were visible for her proud and unashamed perusal, she couldn't believe that in addition to his lack of speed in fixing his updo, he didn't even have half of his clothes on yet.

Her eyes narrowed. What time had he gotten up this morning?

"…I overslept," Sasuke admitted almost silently with a sigh, removing his hands from his mussed hair. Turning to see Sakura glaring daggers at him while she simultaneously grabbed his shirt from the sink, he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "But was it really necessary to let yourself in?"

"I thought you just needed to finish fixing your hair, so I was going to help since we're already running late," Sakura explained tersely. Discreetly letting her eyes run over the chiseled, defined planes of his chest, she couldn't withhold a small smile as she remembered all of the physical training that he had been forced through to achieve the muscle.

Sliding his arms through the crisp white longsleeve as Sakura held it up for him, Sasuke resumed his work on his hair as the pinkette buttoned him up. Offering nothing in response to her statement other than a grunt, he tried valiantly to suppress his shiver as her cool fingers skimmed over his bare skin. The sensation tickled a lot more than he had expected, but he supposed he could put up with it for Sakura's sake; he knew how much she hated being late, and she _was _helping him out.

Working in companionable silence, Sasuke finally finished perfecting his carefully messy hairstyle just as Sakura completed her adjustments to his light blue school tie, a requirement for all male first year students not unlike the matching light blue scarf secured around her neck. After making sure that everything was in order, she grabbed his dark, gold-embroidered blazer from the counter and handed it to him as they stepped into the hallway.

Bending down to pick up her schoolbag and her own golden blazer, Sakura almost missed Sasuke's mumbled apology accompanied by his thanks for her help as he walked past her and through the hall to the front door. She smiled, appreciating his reluctant but sincere sentiments. He and Itachi had always had trouble with these things, and knowing this worked to burn away her irritation.

Giving him a haphazard one-armed hug as she pulled the door open, Sakura laughed at Sasuke's vaguely irritated snort as the pleasant spring air greeted them. Yelling her goodbye to Mikoto, feeling in a much better mood, she stepped onto the small dirt path that led down to the main street, younger Uchiha in tow.

"Where's aniki?" Sasuke asked mildly, relieved to see that Sakura seemed to have calmed down. Taking a deep breath, appreciating the slight coolness floating through the wind, he found that even he was feeling fractionally…lighter than usual. Probably because they hadn't met up with the dobe yet.

Sakura shrugged loosely as she walked down the path, having utter confidence that Itachi had either gone ahead of them to the school or was somewhere nearby, waiting for them. Fallen leaves crunched under her shoes as she reached the edge of the Uchiha property and pulled the small gate open, holding it for Sasuke.

The light purr of a car engine caught her attention just as the gate clanged shut, and Sakura turned around in surprise to find Itachi's dark, sleek convertible sitting idle beside them. Unable to help the exasperated sigh that escaped her lips at the sight of the shiny vehicle that was hurting her low key reputation by merely existing, she couldn't help but imagine all of the sneaking and hiding that she would have to do once they got to the high school parking lot as she slipped into the passenger seat after Sasuke.

"Good morning, Sakura," Itachi greeted quietly, shifting his dark gaze over to her. For whatever reason, she got the distinct feeling that he had been almost bored waiting for them, which was odd considering the fact that he'd had a rather interesting companion with him.

"Sakura-chan! Sasuke-teme! What took you so long? Kami, me and Itachi-san have been waiting forever," came the loud, boisterous complaint from the whiskered blonde seated in the back with Sasuke. Receiving a smack to the head from said backseat companion, a loud bickering match soon ensued, which Sakura and Itachi tactfully ignored as the latter shifted the car into drive.

"Morning, Itachi-kun," Sakura replied conversationally, not answering Naruto's question directly in favor of sliding on her blazer. She reached into her bag to pull out a golden weaved headband and slid it into her hair. "Sorry we took so long: Sasuke-kun overslept and was taking forever in the bathroom, so I had to help him out."

Itachi's lips tilted slightly at the corners to convey his amusement at her almost petulant tone.

"You sound as if you were forced into helping a five year old," he pointed out dryly. Glancing at the arguing duo from the rearview mirror briefly, he allowed his smirk to widen. "But I certainly understand why."

Sakura laughed lightly at his bland comment. From what she could hear Sasuke and Naruto had moved on to arguing about the due date of an assignment that Iruka-sensei had given them two weeks ago, which probably meant that one of them hadn't finished it yet.

Of course by now she really shouldn't be surprised, but it had been becoming apparent lately that, somehow, their stupidity seemed to be reaching new levels. How they were both so popular around school was still incomprehensible.

Sasuke's fanclub had only continued to gather numbers over the years, and she had the sneaking suspicion that his glaring fault in not having had a single girlfriend his entire life was making all of the fangirls increasingly determined to win his affections in hopes of filling that coveted role. His grades were actually pretty decent compared to Naruto's, but she couldn't help but feel that if he didn't procrastinate so much and actually put his Uchiha smarts to work he could be the valedictorian of their graduating class.

Naruto, who had remained blissfully single as well through his fifteen years of life, was quickly accumulating his own group of followers and stalkers. Having known him practically forever and priding herself in having admired his charisma and charm from the very beginning, Sakura wondered why their fellow students were choosing now of all times to take notice.

Sneaking a peek at her blonde-haired best friend in the mirror, she scrutinized his features carefully and concluded that yes, after having lost the initial chubbiness of childhood from his profile and having it replaced with more of a defined, roguish facial structure to match his surprisingly solid build, Naruto was definitely cute enough to earn himself some fans.

As for his grades, well, she supposed that even though they were horrendous at the moment, he shouldn't have any trouble keeping an almost decent GPA. Ugh.

"Sakura-chan," the loudmouthed object of half of her thoughts whined loudly. He sounded frustrated and desperate. "When is the research paper Iruka-sensei gave us due? I could've sworn he said we had until Friday, but the teme here says that it's due tomorrow."

How unbelievable. Iruka-sensei, one of the most lenient teachers in the school when it came to assignments, had given them class time to work on and finish their research papers the past week. Obviously Naruto had wasted all of his time drooling over gourmet food catalogs with Chouji and picking out random cloud shapes with Shikamaru and hadn't done any work.

"Tomorrow, Naruto-kun. The paper is due tomorrow," Sakura informed him simply, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples when the news sent him into a panicked frenzy. Sasuke's grumbling was added to the mix soon enough, and suddenly the car seemed louder than it had been before.

Reopening her eyes, thankful for the dim interior of the car, Sakura glared at the dashboard for a few moments, cursing her oncoming headache. The clock drew her attention, reminding her that even though they weren't going to be late per se, they sure as hell weren't going to be early. She picked up her bag and banged her head against it in frustration.

Itachi's chuckling at her anxiety earned him a light punch to the shoulder, and Sakura pulled her bag down from her face to set it in her lap.

The school building was coming up in their line of vision, and she was endlessly grateful that they lived so close to the place. Curious stares were being given to the car as they neared the parking lot, though the tinted windows did well in keeping their privacy.

"I am sorry for taking the car today. I am aware that you prefer to remain…inconspicuous," Itachi apologized as he pulled effortlessly into an empty space. Shifting the car into park, he turned to face her, eyes conveying his sincerity.

"It's fine, really. We were running late and taking the car saves plenty of time," Sakura assured him, not wanting Itachi to feel needlessly guilty. "Besides, you know how much Naruto-kun loves riding in here. He probably flipped out when he saw you pull up this morning."

Being fully aware of just how much trouble Sakura went through to keep out of sight whenever it came to such attention grabbing situations like this, but appreciating her assurance, Itachi sighed imperceptibly and reached over to pat her head in apology. He didn't like causing her unnecessary trouble by taking the car to school, but her panic at being tardy had prompted him to act accordingly and his car was the only one available at the moment.

"We'd better get going, aniki," Sasuke commented boredly, his reluctance to go into the school apparent in his tone. "Dobe, are you coming with us or do you want to go with Sakura?"

There was a brief pause in which Naruto reviewed the pros and cons of going with either Sakura or Sasuke and Itachi.

With Sasuke and Itachi acting as a distraction while Sakura snuck out, there was a guarantee that they would be mobbed by more than half of the student population as they walked to class. Then again, they seemed to always end up early to their classes no matter what the situation, and Sakura with her sneaking would probably barely manage to make it in time. Plus, he sucked at sneaking. Hmm.

"Sorry Sakura-chan, but my biology class is closer to Itachi-san's first period and Kurenai-sensei will kick my ass if I'm late again," Naruto decided, voice sheepish. In a similar fashion as Itachi had moments before, he reached over the seat to ruffle Sakura's hair affectionately. "But I promise I'll sit next to you at lunch and buy you some cake."

Rolling her eyes at Naruto's inability to make it to class consistently without getting distracted in some way, Sakura smiled at Itachi reassuringly as she patted his arm and pointed at the door. If they didn't leave now they would all be late.

"I will see you in Pre-Calculus later," Itachi smirked as he dropped the car keys into her outstretched palm. He opened the door and stepped outside, nodding to Sakura as he pulled the chair forward to give Naruto and Sasuke room to leave as well.

"Meet you in class in a few minutes. Don't be late," Sasuke half smiled, ducking out of the car before Sakura's fist could connect with his skull.

"See you in third period for history and lunch, Sakura-chan," Naruto grinned, diving out of the car and slamming the door shut.

Through the windshield Sakura caught sight of her whiskered friend miming the action of turning a key to remind her to lock the car before he was swept into a crowd of bodies along with Itachi and Sasuke. She cringed to herself and wondered how they could deal with such attention practically every day, waiting until everyone was out of her line of vision before readjusting the driver's seat and opening her door.

Climbing out, Sakura manually locked the car, not wanting the beeping and flashing of the remote lock to attract attention. She kept her head down and low to keep her vibrant hair from poking out too close to the car as she walked a safe distance away, using the other cars for cover.

Breathing a sigh of relief as she left the parking lot and started toward the building, the brainy rosette quickly located the side door closest to her and adjusted course. If she remembered correctly, this one would spit her into a corridor close to her classroom. With any luck she would at least end up somewhere nearby.

Pace quickening as she realized that the outer grounds were almost cleared of students, Sakura hurried over to the door. All too focused on getting inside, she reached for the handle and almost jumped clear out of her skin when another hand met hers.

Retracting her hand with a jolt, her wide viridian eyes flew up to meet equally shocked charcoal eyes.

"Ah, excuse me, sir," Sakura apologized immediately, bowing in reflex. Her heart was still racing and she felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment over her inattentiveness.

"Ah, that's alright," the man chuckled goodnaturedly, waving his hand in an upward motion to signal her to straighten out of her bow. "I don't even think I'm going the right way: I'm looking for the administration office."

Sakura straightened and studied his appearance politely and shortly. A shock of silver hair stuck at an odd angle atop his head and his face, save for his eyes, was covered with some sort of mask. Under normal circumstances the mask alone would automatically categorize the man as a creeper in her book, but when she noticed the visitor's badge hanging around his neck and the business-casual style that he was sporting, she realized that he had probably just gotten lost after leaving the office and was trying to find his way back.

She scratched her head for a moment, thinking, and missed the curt once over that he took of her person as well. An odd glint sparkled for a split second in his eyes before disappearing as he met her striking emerald gaze with a sort of polite interest about him.

"If you're going to the administration office, all you have to do is head over to the front entrance and turn left at the first hallway," Sakura provided, smiling warmly at him. "It's really easy to spot, but if you can't find it I'm sure any student that you ask will be able to help."

Eyes creasing as he smiled beneath his mask, he nodded in understanding.

"Thank you very much," he said, relief evident in his voice. Adopting a contemplative look, his gaze switched back and forth between Sakura and the door pointedly. "You should probably hurry along. I'm not sure if your teacher will appreciate it too much if you're late to class, even if you tell them that you were caught up helping a lost visitor find his way."

Snapping back to her senses, panic rushing back tenfold as the fact hit home that she had just spent the past few precious moments helping this man when she had already been late to begin with, Sakura bowed quickly and excused herself, taking off inside.

She thanked kami that her classroom was so close to the side entrance she had come through as she sprinted over to the room and pushed the door open with a forceful shove. She pulled herself in just as the bell rang and her classmates, already seated and ready for the lesson, looked up at her arrival.

"Good morning, Haruno-san," her teacher, Asuma-sensei, greeted her with a raised brow. Observing her harried appearance and sympathizing, he waved his hand carelessly in the general direction of the class. "Go ahead and take your seat. I won't count you tardy because _technically _you were inside the room before the bell. The paperwork is a sore pain anyway."

"Thank you very much, Asuma-sensei." Relief washed through her like a torrent: she wasn't late.

Spotting her seat near the back of the room between Shikamaru and Neji, Sakura made her way over to them with a smile. Sasuke, who was seated on the other side of Shikamaru, caught her eye and smirked wickedly at her tardiness. She raised a fist to him in warning. Smug little bastard probably made it to class without any issues.

"Did something happen, Sakura?" Shikamaru asked lowly, keeping his eyes on Asuma as he began to write an English passage on the board for them to translate. "Sasuke came in early today and you were unusually late."

Being the genius that he was but at the same time being too lazy to really do anything about it, Shikamaru had found out about Sakura living with the Uchihas around sixth grade when she had befriended him. There wasn't really a particular instance in which he had told them that he'd known; it had been a few comments and hints here and there that had suggested that he was aware but wasn't going to tell anyone.

She greatly appreciated his silence, and eventually their friendship grew strong enough to where in instances like this, though he wasn't normally inclined to ask about the business of others, he would always ask to make sure things were alright.

"Thanks to Sasuke-kun we were running a little behind schedule this morning and had to take the car," Sakura explained just as quietly, some bite working into her words. "Sneaking in takes time, you know. Especially when you play the part of a good samaritan and give a masked, silver-haired stranger directions to the admin office."

Shikamaru's brows furrowed slightly.

"Are you sure that's safe?"

"He had a visitor's pass, and he seemed pretty chill as far as I could tell," Sakura shrugged, beginning to translate the paragraph on a piece of paper in case she was called on. "I wouldn't worry about it too much."

Catching his affirmative nod from the corner of her eye, Sakura smiled briefly and tuned in to Asuma-sensei's lesson. The new vocabulary that was being introduced seemed simple enough and the grammar concepts were review, more or less. Learning English as a second language had become pretty easy for her, so she was unsurprised to find her mind drifting as she lost focus.

She hadn't seen Kisame, Deidara, or Sasori around the house in a while. Having been Itachi's rather ragtag group of friends for as long as she could remember along with Hidan, Kakuzu, their distant Uchiha cousin named Tobi, and even occasionally Pein and Konan who were two years their senior, she was unused to not having them running rampant around the house or playing a sport of some kind in the spacious backyard. Even though she did have at least one class that she shared with each of them—save for the latter pair who had graduated last year—she couldn't help but miss having the older boys around at the house, too.

Lost in her personal contemplations, Sakura didn't notice Sasuke watching her with a light smirk and a slightly raised brow.

He could recognize that look from a mile away, and knowing the girl who was considered pretty much like a sister to him as well as he did, the way that she was resting her head on her knuckles and the fact that she was doodling aimlessly on her paper with glazed eyes meant that she was thinking so intently about something the her focus was manifesting itself on her paper.

Feeling curious despite himself, Sasuke's sharp eyes caught the outline of a masculine profile becoming increasingly defined in the sketch. It made him oddly uneasy, seeing her thinking so deeply about some guy with that small, secretive smile when there was the very real possibility that it wasn't him, aniki, or even the dobe. He frowned.

"Alright, all of you split into groups of four and review this vocabulary. I'll call it in ten minutes to go over them, and then you'll be working in partners until the end of class to work on the grammar sets."

Sasuke watched as Sakura's emerald eyes cleared almost immediately, and he couldn't withhold his scowl at the sight of her delicate blush as she realized that she had subconsciously been drawing the main focus of her thoughts. He stood from his seat as she scrubbed the image out with her eraser, but was halted by Shikamaru's bland voice.

"Hey Sasuke, do you want to work with me, Sakura, and Neji? It'd make things a lot less troublesome," he suggested, not even attempting to word the statement with grammatical accuracy. Having Sasuke in the group would save them the trouble of finding someone else.

The Uchiha's frown deepened imperceptibly, but as dispassionate onyx met innocent and lightly concerned viridian he felt his simmering frustration start to melt away. For whatever reason he found that he could never really stay angry with Sakura, especially when she was so utterly clueless to the small annoyances that occasionally bothered him. Something as miniscule as this, he told himself, wasn't worth getting worked up over.

Cool-headed once again, Sasuke nodded to Shikamaru in agreement as he sat back down in his chair.

He only half-listened as Neji, who was as close to the workaholic of the group as anyone was going to get, dove right into the assignment without hesitation. Beside him he found that the Nara had buried his head forehead first onto the surface of the desk, probably trying to get some sleep, and Sakura was trying to show active interest even though it was clear that she was bored out of her mind with the material. For his part, he had both elbows atop the desk and was resting his chin above his clasped hands in a neutral position. He wasn't being as blatantly indicative of his disinterest as Shikamaru, but he wasn't attempting to be nearly as polite as Sakura.

"Are you alright, Sasuke?" Sakura asked, foregoing the affectionate suffix so as not to sound too personal with him to any curious eavesdroppers. She conveyed her worry for him through her expression.

He nodded once without uttering a sound, not acknowledging that he noticed or cared that she had addressed him any differently than she normally did. Sasuke, like Itachi and Naruto, had long understood and respected her wished to remain out of the public eyes of the school: it seemed that she had a natural aversion to that kind of attention.

Over the years the student body had learned to associate the pinkette with Naruto, who was in turn associated with the Uchihas. Through this chain it wasn't an entirely odd sight to see her with them as long as her whiskered companion or his other friends were nearby. Almost all communication had to surreptitious or overly casual, which didn't specifically bother him. This was the way things had been since primary school, after all.

"I see that you four are hard at work here. Especially you, Nara-san."

Keeping the towering form of their sensei in his peripheral vision, Sasuke watched, amused, as Shikamaru slowly lifted his head and yawned carelessly in front of Asuma. He'd heard that the English teacher was an old friend of Shikamaru's family, and it seemed that the fairly casual exchange further reinforced the rumor.

"So I hope you don't mind working with Hyuuga-san here until the end of class on the grammar principles. No, I don't care if you already know it. I still expect you to work in my class." Well for his part Asuma-sensei seemed to be keeping things decidedly professional. "So Haruno-san, you can work with Uchiha-san."

Fine brow raising in unison with Sakura's, the two shared a glance devoid of any real meaning before shrugging.

"Yes, Asuma-sensei," came the standard response from the four as Sakura and Shikamaru stood from their desks, bowed respectfully to their instructor, and swapped seats. This earned them a curt nod before Asuma turned his back to them and returned to the front of the classroom to await the dismissal bell that would send them to second period.

"…I can't believe tousan can handle having tea with that guy every day after work," Shikamaru commented with a sigh, shaking his head once before joining Neji in a conversation about the annoying social habits of their respective parental.

Sakura just smiled, turning to give Sasuke a skeptical look while motioning to the board at the front of the room.

"Would you like to begin the discussion about the proper uses of English verbs in their respective positions within the different sentence structures, or shall I?"

Not entirely concerned in that particular instance whether or not anyone was watching, Sasuke tapped her gently between the eyebrows and smirked at the way they pulled together just as he pulled his fingers away. He found that her subtle reactions could be quite entertaining sometimes.

"Hn," was his eventual reply as he merely reclined in his seat and closed his eyes. "I could really care less."

Sakura stared at him incredulously before shaking her head, kicking him discreetly—but none too gently—in the ankle underneath the cover of the desk. The tiny degree of pain that strained his otherwise uncaring expression had her smiling as they sat out the remainder of the class unmindful of their supposed assignment.

* * *

A pair of deceptively aloof charcoal eyes roamed the presently empty hallways of Konoha Gakuen while finely tuned ears picked up on the garbled lecturing of various instructors from behind closed doors. The owner of said eyes and ears walked aimlessly and without purpose, carrying himself with an obvious slouch in his posture that suggested laxity.

He supposed he should return to the administrative office like a good boy before the short-tempered headmistress blew a casket, so with that thought in mind he made a perfect about-face. Retracing his steps and reaching a forked hallway, he turned right without hesitation, clearly remembering his previous tracks.

As he rounded the corner he noticed a tall, dark-haired male student coming in his direction from a few feet away.

Judging from his crimson school tie it was safe to assume that he was a third year, but as their eyes met he was astonished to see that his gaze was unerringly sharp and calculating. The raven colored strands framing the student's cold features made him look familiar in a way that he couldn't quite place a finger on, so as they neared each other, curiosity spurred him into casual conversation.

"I see that you're reading Shakespeare," the older of the two began pleasantly, taking note of the tattered piece of literature in the young man's hands as they halted in the middle of the corridor to face one another. "I would assume that it's for your English class, eh?"

The student's impassive expression went well with his behavior and nature, the silver-haired man noticed with slight interest as they stared each other down during the beat of silence. He assumed by the calculating spark embedded within the deep onyx of his pupils that he was thinking through his response and possibly wondering what a stranger like him could get out of an impromptu chat with a student.

Beneath the fabric of his mask he felt his lips tilt upwards in amusement and pleasant surprise at the young man's intelligence. Finding himself curious about what response would be chosen, he felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment when, before he could hear what the youth had to say, he heard his name being called from a little ways down the hall by the school receptionist, Shizune.

"Hatake-san! Tsunade-sama wishes for you to come to her office immediately," the dark-haired woman reported sternly, having been used to the man's wandering tendencies. She eyed the two figures in the hallway with a casually raised brow.

"Ah, but I was just about to begin a pleasant conversation with this handsome young student here," Hatake Kakashi sighed, genuine regret working its way into his voice. He offered his companion an eye-crinkling smile. "Maybe another time."

Shizune, recognizing the rather popular male school heartthrob that had been conversing with Kakashi even from a slight distance, couldn't help raising another brow in surprise. Uchiha Itachi, of all people, running into this man was a coincidence, indeed.

Training her gaze on the two as Kakashi and Itachi exchanged nods and polite bows, she shot the former an especially disbelieving look as he approached her unhurriedly. He was unbelievable, disappearing for half an hour to 'explore the campus,' as he called it, and ignoring Tsunade-sama's vehement qualms about interacting with students before granted permission. She shook her head.

"Such interesting students you have here Shizune-san, and plenty of variety as well," Kakashi commented wryly, not bothering to lower his voice. Having recalled his previous encounter with a certain female student earlier in the morning and wanting to test a theory, he kept his eyes trained intently on the departing student's form as he uttered his next statement airily.

"I mean, pink hair to match a student's caring _and _helpful personality? Believe it or not, I ran into the kindest young lady with the brightest emerald eyes and bubblegum colored hair earlier. She helped me _remember _where the administration office was, as a matter of fact, and her hair looked strikingly natural to boot."

As he had hoped, Kakashi detected the slightest tense and almost imperceptible slowing of pace in the dark-haired third year's movements as he had progressed through his description. The changes would have been unnoticeable to most, but with his practiced eye for spotting detail he detected them.

It seemed that he knew the girl well enough to where he was outwardly concerned for her, and considering the clinical detachment that he had already displayed quite skillfully a few moments before along with the fact that it seemed to be slackening, Kakashi could see that they must be quite close.

Knowing what he needed to know for now, he tried to take mercy on the interesting youngster who he felt would be a great asset to him later.

"But alas, I doubt that I'm ever going to see her again. I mean, what are the odds of running into the same student twice in such a large and populous building, even with pink hair?" he complained with little discernable interest, as if he were giving up on some form of temporary entertainment that had captured his attention mostly due to boredom. Of course, his disinterested tone was completely fabricated, but putting the student rounding the corner at ease even a little would help to lighten his conscience.

Satisfied, Kakashi turned to look at a slit-eyed Shizune, having the audacity to attempt a look of utter innocence.

"Hatake-san, please refrain from toying with our students. Tsunade-sama will not be pleased when she hears that you've somehow managed to grace two of our prized students with your presence before even beginning your formal work here as an instructor."

"Technically, Shizune-san, I have graced many of your students with my presence walking through the hallways before first period," the masked man corrected her with an impish grin, slipping by her and sweeping into the office. "I've only spoken with two. Or really one, because the last one didn't get a chance to say anything."

Shizune rolled her eyes at his reply, stepping in front of him and leading the way to the headmistress's office. She could easily recall a time when Kakashi had been less…well, less of a smartass.

Or rather, he had been more subtle about it.

Glancing over at the silver-haired man behind her and finding herself unsurprised to see a contemplative frown creasing the fabric of his mask in contrast to his earlier grins and smirks, she supposed that he really hadn't changed too much over the years.

In addition to his serious and rather mysterious behavior from before that she knew without a doubt was still there, it appeared that Hatake Kakashi had for some reason managed to come up with alternate, more outwardly cheerful and amiable behaviors as well.

Chalking it up to the fact that having these different countenances would make his job here at the school slightly easier—but knowing inwardly that he was much too complicated to keep it simply at that—Shizune pulled her eyes away from her old acquaintance and stopped in front of the door to her boss's office.

"Tsunade-sama will be seeing you now," she reported rather needlessly, tapping lightly on the door with her knuckles. Receiving the affirmative, she turned the handle and pushed the door ajar just slightly, politely prodding Kakashi inside.

The look on the blonde headmistress's face as he entered the room clearly displayed her already limited patience, and the silver-haired man tamped down the urge to sigh as the door closed behind him with a resounding thud. Her brow arched slowly as seconds ticked by and he remained standing steadfastly in his position in front of the doorway, smiling at her in an almost transparent fashion.

"Kakashi, you know that door opens _in_, right? Shizune could ram that door into your side at any given moment," Tsunade told him dryly, making the motion with her fingers that indicated for him to move forward. Her amber eyes flickered from his still form down to the paperwork spread messily across the expanse of her desk and she shuffled through a specific stack searchingly.

"I'm well aware," Kakashi replied, small smile evident in his tone. He took four measured steps to carry himself further into the office and stopped as he added to his statement. "I would think that of all people, Tsunade-_sama_, you would be the one to remain obedient to the proper way of addressing your workers in a professional environment."

The sound of the shuffling ceased as Tsunade raised her head to glare at his almost condescending tone. She would not tolerate him chiding her.

"I will address you as I see fit Kakashi, and considering the fact that I was under the impression that we would do a little catching up between old friends before you took your position today, I will call you by your given name for now."

The careless shrug that she received in response to her rather vehement declaration irked her marginally less that it concerned her. Jaraiya had warned her that Kakashi would behave similarly to this and told her to cut him some slack, but she hadn't expected the change to affect her so much.

Her findings as she'd observed him since his reappearance to apply for a position at the school after years of lost contact were…sobering. There was a certain lack of warmth in his disposition that left him almost robotic underneath his clinical and almost scornful surface. No matter how he interchanged his outward tones and expressions, she couldn't detect any genuine care for anything beneath it all.

"When and where would you like me to start?" Kakashi asked curiously, breaking the blonde from her heavy musings. His charcoal eyes gazed out the window at the gathering clouds with an apparent detachment. "I don't have any specific preferences."

Aware that he was quite overqualified to fill any available position on the staff, Tsunade rifled through the papers once again. Pulling a single yellow sheet from within the pile, she perused its contents briefly before pushing it toward him.

"Just recently one of our instructors, Gekkou Hayate, had to take an emergency medical leave and will be out for the remainder of the semester," she explained with a frown. "You can take over his class for now, and I will inform you if and when he is able to resume his position. In the meantime you are to report to his room and teach the lesson that has been prepared for today, and today only. I expect you to take it from here on out."

Retrieving the paper with the former teacher's information and class plans, Kakashi nodded curtly. He eyed the headmistress's tense form and wondered for a moment if he should ask her about the young pink-haired first year that he had run into earlier; after all, it probably wouldn't be hard for her to remember such a distinctive looking student, and if not she could always check the profiles for a name and information with enough prodding.

His gut instinct, that he had long learned to trust, was telling him that she could be the link to what he was searching for.

"Do you have something that you need to say, Kakashi?"

Deciding that he would keep quiet about things for now, the newly hired instructor offered her a meaningful smile coupled with a deceptively warm eye crease.

"No, Tsunade-sama. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work here at Konoha Gakuen."

Piercing amber eyes lingering on Kakashi for a few seconds longer than common courtesy allowed, though neither Tsunade nor her indicated person of focus cared enough to mention anything about it, she finally lifted her heavy gaze from him and redirected it to the window, not unlike how he had done earlier.

"You're excused. Talk to me if you have any problems, Hatake-san."

Bowing respectfully, Kakashi let himself out of the room and, nodding to Shizune, exited the office. Bringing the single yellow sheet of paper in his hand up to read once again, he searched for the subject of the class that he would be teaching for the next few months. He raised a fine silver brow at the telltale response inked out before him.

Well, at least he wouldn't be introducing a bunch of mindless children to anything simple like the fundamentals of simplifying algebraic expressions.

* * *

"Uzumaki-san. Perhaps you would like to enlighten the class with your stunning knowledge of the Great War of 1812, seeing as you've been so kindly rewording every word that I've spoken behind my back for the past half hour."

Freezing midway through his silent demonstration of bombs swooping onto a town using only multiple wads of paper and interesting facial expressions, Naruto's audible gulp was followed by nervous laughter as he lowered his raised arms. As he fumbled for an excuse Sakura, who had managed to land herself the spot on his right side that effectively pinned him to the wall, merely bent down to begin collecting his trash.

"Well Ibiki-sensei, you see, I was trying to add some visual help to your explanation and-"

The phrase 'saved by the bell' appeared unbidden within her mind's eye as the sound of the lunch bell for their class interrupted her friend's flustered response. Suddenly Sakura, still bending over the desk, felt her head being relentlessly pummeled by the crowd of students rushing to leave the room.

Through her newly acquired headache she managed to catch sight of a pale hand outstretched to offer assistance that she gladly accepted only to be jerked up and out of her chair with such dizzying speed that she almost didn't have time to grab her bag before she was dragged into the crowded hallway.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan." Naruto's distressed apology, even with his unusually loud voice, barely carried over the noisy uproar that dominated the entire corridor. "But they're serving my favorite kind of ramen today, and I still have to buy you your cake!"

The massive crowds of students cycling to and from the cafeteria pushed and pulled the two of them forcefully, but Naruto's ever-firm grip on her arm ensured that they wouldn't get separated. Sakura, for her part, stayed valiantly upright and did her best to keep an eye on the signature spiky blonde hair of her friend as she kept up with him.

Trudging along the edges of the hallway, she recognized the doorway to Sasuke's third period and noticed the same messy updo that she had worked on that morning peeking out above the crowd just ahead of them. Apparently Naruto noticed this as well, because the small pinkette felt a perceptible shift in course and quickening of pace.

"Oi, teme! Sakura-chan will grab you real quick so we can get to the cafeteria quicker!"

Finding herself questioning his logic not for the first time in her life, Sakura rolled her eyes and grabbed Sasuke's hand with practiced precision to force him over to her. The situation was quite familiar, so the young Uchiha merely shook his head at his best friend's antics.

"Does the dobe really have to do this every other day?" he complained with a scowl.

Barely able to hear his soft voice over the noise but managing to interpret his words by his expression and the slight increase of pressure in the squeeze of their linked hands, she just raised a brow and shrugged faintly.

"He's just that attached to us," Sakura replied dryly, grunting as one particularly violent passerby deemed it appropriate to whack her roughly with his schoolbag.

The pressure on her left arm intensified slightly to signal to her that they were almost to the cafeteria entrance, and Sakura turned around to relay the news to Sasuke as per usual when she caught sight of a short skirted, brown-haired fangirl attempting to rape her especially pissy friend. He evidently caught sight of her trying to fight down laughter as she watched him attempt to fend the girl off single-handedly, and his irritated frown blackened.

At that moment Naruto pulled Sakura into the lunchroom and she, taking mercy on Sasuke, tugged him sharply enough along with her to where his attachment was shaken off and he stumbled into her expectant embrace. The blonde had immediately separated to find sustenance, freeing her arm so she could steady him and pat his head at the same time, her amused laughter floating into his ears.

What could have been a very incriminating scene went unnoticed in the immediate chaos of the cafeteria, something that both Sakura and Sasuke were thankful for: the former for obvious reasons and the latter because, though he would bitterly deny it later, his cheeks and neck were feeling uncomfortably hotter than usual.

"Sakura," he managed to growl lowly despite the blush spreading across his features. "Let me go."

"I'll just go and find that brunette again, then. I'm sure her libido is going insane right now from all of that close contact with her Sasuke-kun," Sakura retorted without hesitation, sending herself into stronger peals of laughter.

She didn't seem to be aware of the fact that the longer she held Sasuke in her arms with her warm breath fanning across the sensitive paths of skin along his neck the more aware his body became of her form pressed against his, the way that her curves melted into his in a way that stirred a foreign surge of something inside of him.

And then suddenly the warmth against his back and neck vanished, leaving him unusually cold as Sakura, still laughing, sauntered over toward their empty table. By the looks of it everyone was still in line getting lunch.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun. You're just too funny," the pinkette giggled, oblivious as always to his internal conflict. Her deep emerald eyes sparkled back at him, coupled with a wide grin.

Unnerved and shaken by his body's unwanted reaction to the girl that was practically a sister to him giving him a playful hug, Sasuke worked to keep his features even as he took a seat near her, leaving space for their blonde friend to sit. He didn't entirely trust his traitorous hormones around the rosette at this particular moment, and didn't want to take any chances while he recomposed himself internally.

From his side, Sakura calmed her laughing fit long enough to look at him anxiously. Earlier in English he had been acting a little odd and it seemed like now, again, something was bothering him. She debated shortly with herself before deciding not to say anything; Sasuke was a big boy and perfectly capable of handling his own problems. He wouldn't appreciate her constant pestering anyway.

"Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme! Since it seems obvious that either Mikoto-san forgot to make your lunches or you were too lazy to buy lunch, I bought you some food. Kaasan won't mind too much. If she does it'll be because she's worried that you guys aren't eating enough." The familiar voice of an excited Naruto brought welcomed relief to the duo seated as he slammed two armfuls of food onto the table clumsily.

"Kushina-san never ceases to amaze me with her kindness," Sakura smiled, reaching over to pick up a wrapped sandwich from the pile. Pulling off the plastic obscuring the contents of said sandwich, she frowned in displeasure and tossed it over in Sasuke's direction. "Gross, that one is on white. Pretty sure that's yours, Sasuke-kun."

Berating himself for letting pointless things bother him for a second time, Sasuke shoved his scrambled thoughts into the recesses of his mind to pull apart later. Thinking about this too much right now would cause unnecessary problems, so he merely picked up the sandwich in front of him and began to eat, keeping his gaze firmly on the ramen container in front of Naruto.

"What's up, teme? Did you finally realize that the awesomeness of ramen is greater than any other kind of food on the planet?" Naruto grinned, noticing his friend's determined stare being directed at his lunch. "I'm pretty sure there's another container around here somewhere…"

Sakura shook her head as she continued to rummage through the collection of sweets, snacks, pastries, and literally every bit of unhealthy food available in the cafeteria in search of something decent to eat before her pastry freerun. She would probably have to find something more healthy and filling once she got back to the house to burn off all the sugar.

Taking a longer look at the massive pile, the pink-haired first year made a mental note to go jogging with Itachi later, too.

"Give it up, dobe. I don't want any ramen."

"That's ridiculous! I swear you haven't had ramen since last week and I know that deep down you're craving it. That's why you've been pissy, and as your best friend and personal ramen provider I'm just doing my job."

Sasuke, regaining a sense of normalcy, shared an eye roll with Sakura and took another careful bite of his lunch.

Soon enough the blonde ceased his fruitless search in favor of resuming his own meal, promising the two that he would take them to get some ramen with such assurance that it had them both cringing. Hopefully Itachi could talk him out of it somehow.

"Naruto-kun, I can't find anything edible here," Sakura told her whiskered friend with a sigh. "And no, I'm not eating ramen."

Following her statement a pale, manicured hand held a ball of onigiri in front of her face, and Sakura looked up into the deep blue eyes of her best girlfriend as she seated herself across from her. She was holding an almost identical looking riceball up to her lips and was nibbling the end, perfectly plucked eyebrows slightly raised.

Accepting the food with a grateful smile, Sakura thanked Ino and nodded to Shikamaru, the blonde's ever faithful boyfriend, as he took his seat across from Naruto. He offered a lazy wave in reply before placing his simple lunch of water and a sandwich similar to Sasuke's on the designated table space before him.

"Eat on up, Sakura. I saw Naruto gathering up so many fattening snacks that I wanted to hurl, so I went ahead and bought some onigiri in case you needed some," Ino stated, glaring pointedly at the blonde as he twirled a good portion of ramen around his chopsticks.

Upon hearing Ino's accusatory tone Naruto responded with an unintelligible garble of some sort, sauce flying from his mouth and narrowly missing Shikamaru's unwrapped sandwich. The young genius sighed, mumbling something along the lines of 'troublesome blondes…' as he took an almost forced bite from his lunch.

Sitting with these people probably wasn't good for his mental stability.

"Thanks Ino. Sorry Shikamaru, I know the idiot almost spit in your food," Sakura said through a mouthful of riceball, slapping the tops of Naruto's hands disapprovingly. She ignored his whimpers in favor of picking up a package of chocolate sticks from the pile.

"Sakura. You aren't seriously going to eat that." Ino said dubiously, snatching the sweet from her friend's hand. Holding off Sakura's reaching hands with her raised index finger, she gave the nutrition label a cursory glance before throwing it at Naruto's head carelessly. "It'll go straight to your hips."

Managing to catch the candy before it could make contact with her whiskered friend's unsuspecting face, Sakura frowned at Ino as she finished the remnants of her riceball. She waved absently to Kiba and Tenten as they joined the table, and the pinkette began to unwrap the chocolate despite the blonde's implicit warnings.

She withheld a challenging smile as she noticed intense blue eyes focusing on her deft fingers from across the table.

"Sakura…" The warning came out sounding startlingly sweet. "You know that as your best girlfriend I can't let you eat that."

The sharp, Uchiha-like smirk bloomed across Sakura's lips at the statement that sounded so much like Naruto's from earlier. Sasuke, from his spot on the other side of the blonde buffer, couldn't help his small smirk in response.

"Calm down, girls," Tenten interceded, recognizing the challenge that Sakura had somehow sparked with Ino. Having taken a seat beside the latter of the two mentioned, the brunette attempted to diffuse the unexpectedly dramatic situation. "It's just chocolate."

Emerald and sky blue eyes redirecting themselves to their friend. Shikamaru took the opportunity to casually life the package from Sakura's hand and place it in front of a nonplussed Sasuke. Kiba, sitting by the Nara, laughed at his direct approach while the Uchiha paused midbite and looked warily at his nonchalant expression. Naruto, finished with his ramen, chuckled along with Kiba.

"Sasuke-kun."

Sakura's biting voice seemed to cut through the laughter, and Shikamaru shrank away a little from the newly troublesome situation. He wasn't even the one being addressed and he still felt her aggression.

"Give me the chocolate."

It wasn't like she couldn't grab another package from the pile, because she could.

It was the way that Ino seemed altogether satisfied and smug that she had gotten her way that left her with the urge to just…

Eat.

That damn.

Chocolate.

Her gaze seemed to sharpen upon the cautious way that Sasuke held himself. The whole table, sans Shikamaru, seemed to lean toward the deemed 'troublesome' chocolate curiously.

And then, suddenly, Naruto made a grab for the package and the table erupted in chaos.

"Give it here, Sasuke-teme!"

"Hands off, dobe."

"Someone grab it!"

"It spilled."

"We can see that, Shikamaru!"

"Naruto-kun, you idiot!"

"Crap, the sticks are all lost in the pile!"

A concentrated scrimmage for the chocolate sticks ensued, and after a few insane, frenzied moments of confusion, the once somewhat organized collection of snacks that had been spread across the table resembled an endless sea of crumpled wrappers and smushed sweets, with multiple packages having ended up on the floor and in the empty seats. Sasuke's sandwich along with Shikamaru's was shredded to pieces while Tenten and Kiba, though they had managed to save a portion of their meals, were faced with the depressing remnants of their side dishes.

Sakura grinned proudly despite the fact that the lunch table had just been utterly demolished, licking her fingers with the delicacy of a well-fed feline. She had managed to secure and devour more than half of the pack's contents, which was an accomplishment: an accomplishment that came coupled with the unfailingly satisfactory sense of victory over one Yamanaka Ino.

Reaching behind Naruto's back with an extended fist, a feral smile curled her lips slightly when Sasuke's fist lightly bumped hers. Out of the corner of her eye she could vaguely make out his expression of exasperation and begrudging acknowledgment of her messy and personal triumph.

"Troublesome." The standard complaint issued by Shikamaru in a single burst of air mirrored the inner sentiments of the group as they stared collectively at the sloppy assembly. "And now Sasuke and I don't have lunch."

Naruto, being one of the group that thoroughly enjoyed the food fiasco, licked a drop of sauce from the corner of his mouth and offered his disgruntled friend a bright, impish smile. He pulled a slightly bent container of noodles from somewhere within the mass and held it out to Shikamaru as if he had been readily prepared for such a comment.

"How does he do that?" Tenten asked incredulously, clearing a small space for her remaining lunch.

Ino, temporarily miffed about Sakura's abstract method of going around her directions, rolled her eyes and tapped the tabletop rhythmically with her gold polished fingertips. From her side her boyfriend slouched heavier in his seat.

"Does it really matter?" she snapped impatiently. "I'm sure it all comes out from the same place. Straight out his-"

"Hey now, play nice," Kiba interrupted amusedly as he wolfed down his food. As much as he normally enjoyed a little conflict here and there, he wanted to finish his lunch and keep his uniform in decent shape for the rest of the day. That wouldn't happen if Ino started another argument with her pissy mood.

The point being made that no one wanted any ramen, Naruto shrugged and began to cram some of the snacks spread along the table into his school bag. He wasn't about to let some of the really tasty junk foods go to waste because of a few dents and creases. After school he would probably get hungry anyway, so why not be prepared?

"Are you still hungry, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, following Naruto's lead somewhat and beginning to clean up the carnage from the incident. Instead of hoarding it away for later, the pinkette began sorting the leftovers into distinct piles to differentiate the conditions of the foods. Some looked decent enough while others were rendered pretty much inedible, so it would be easier to figure out what to do with them once they were categorized.

"I'm fine," Sasuke grunted, glancing at the clock to find that there were only a few minutes of lunch remaining. He had gotten through half of his sandwich before Shikamaru had placed the focus of the conflict that he had nothing to do with whatsoever in his hands—and why the idiot would decide to lunge for it he would never know—so he would survive until after school.

"Shikamaru?"

The pineapple haired student gave Sakura a dry look, which she returned easily.

"I think that's enough food trouble for me today. Thanks."

Clean up commenced following his all-inclusive statement and as the pinkette picked up a crumpled wrapper she wondered how, throughout the duration of the presence of the myriad of snacks, she had somehow avoided eating any of Naruto's promised cake. He would flip out later when she told him.

Come to think of it, her classmates in her next period would probably get a kick out of it, too.

**X**

"How cute, un. Look Itachi, your little bro decided to drop by and say hello."

The blonde third year grinned as he looked at the two underclassmen in front of him, his uniform sleeves rolled up to his elbows casually. He straightened from his position leaning against the doorframe to the classroom to reach over and trap the younger Uchiha brother in a friendly headlock. Despite his attempt to display annoyance at the action, Sasuke couldn't help his small smirk at seeing his brother's friend.

"Haven't seen you since last week, runt. You been acting up, hmm?" the older asked cheekily, proceeding to drag his captive into the classroom. He twisted his head to get a better look at the rosette entering the room along with them and offered her a wink that had her laughing quietly.

"As if you care, Deidara." Sasuke replied. His smirk widened when the grip around his neck tightened playfully. "And the weekend isn't really that long."

"'Course I care."Deidara ruffled Sasuke's already messy hair as they reached the seats situated along the window to be met with the sight of Kisame conversing lowly with the older Uchiha brother. Obsidian and dark blue, almost black, eyes looked up at their arrival. They had evidently overheard the small commotion. "Right, Itachi?"

"Aa, Deidara. Sasuke."

Itachi's monosyllabic reply had the former sufficiently indignant while the latter, being slowly released from the hold, nodded to signal his mutual greeting. Satisfied, he turned his dark gaze over to Sakura, who was settling into her desk.

"Good afternoon, Sakura."

She turned to better meet Itachi's warm eyes and smiled pleasantly, appreciating his casual welcome.

"Afternoon Itachi, and a good afternoon to you, too, Kisame. Or rather, Kisame-senpai."

The shark-like third year flashed a razor sharp smile and leaned back against the wall, slackening his shoulders. His brow was raised as he studied her curtly, but he seemed to brush off whatever was causing the gesture with a shrug.

"Same to you, squirt. You look tired—Sasuke bothering you again?" Kisame observed teasingly. He cracked his knuckles in a joking threat to the younger student slouching beside Deidara, and the corner of Sasuke's lips lifted fractionally in silent challenge. "I've been meaning to loosen up the muscles a little bit, and beating up on Itachi's kid brother sounds like a nice excuse."

It seemed that their lack of communication for the past few days had built up a certain 'abuse Sasuke' vibe among Itachi's friends, not that Sakura—or necessarily Sasuke himself for that matter—really minded.

Their older acquaintances had always been cheerfully violent, for lack of a better term, except for with the sweet rosette of the group. Of course not; they would never let a single hair on her head be harmed, and if they or anyone else tried, she could easily defend herself _and _kick their asses.

"Sasuke-kun was just walking with me to class today," Sakura explained with a laugh, reaching over to lower Kisame's fists gently. "And I am tired, but it's not his fault."

"If you say so." Kisame seemed a little disappointed, but she gave him the benefit of the doubt that it was for a reason other than not being able to beat up Sasuke. "You sure you're cool, Sakura?"

The pink-haired first year nodded, pulling her headband off to run her fingers through the long strands. Keeping those things on seemed to give her the worst headaches, but Mikoto-san was nice enough to buy her these types of accessories occasionally and she didn't want to let them go to waste.

Beside her, small conversation had resumed again between Deidara and Sasuke as well as with Itachi and Kisame, so she sank lower into her seat to contemplate her plans for the remainder of the day.

Naruto would be coming home with them later for sure to talk Sasuke and herself into helping him finish his research paper, so she would have to use her jog with Itachi as an excuse to leave Sasuke's sorry ass behind to deal with him solo. Since it was Monday Fugaku-san would probably be working late tonight, which meant takeout: if she played her cards right, she could snag tempura before Mikoto-san made it home from her girl time with Kushina-san—

"I think you're drooling, Sakura. Are you thinking of tempura again?" a smooth voice asked her, colored with amusement. The familiar weight of a schoolbag tapper her head harmlessly, and she raised her eyes from the wood of the desk up to meet equally familiar amber eyes.

"You know me too well, Sasori-senpai," Sakura replied, the corner of her mouth quirking up smally. The gesture was mirrored in the redhead's expression, though his was marginally more twisted. It was odd because she hadn't even noticed him settle in front of her.

Apparently she wasn't the only one, because Deidara and Kisame looked up from their discussions in surprise to find their other friend already in his seat. Itachi, being the ever watchful person that he was, appeared unsurprised while Sasuke exchanged a customary nod with the third year. They locked gazes for a few long seconds, and evidently shared a mutual agreement that Sakura couldn't understand to save her life. The two had always had a sort of confusing relationship to begin with, but she was just relieved that they got along.

"It's certainly nice to see you again Sasuke," Sasori stated in a faint mix of surprise and curiosity. His head was tilted just so that his bangs brushed lightly over the tops of his piercing eyes. "Are you here to see Itachi?"

"No. I came with Sakura, that's all," Sasuke replied evenly. He glanced briefly at the growing population of students beginning to gather within the classroom and, recognizing that it was time for him to leave, took a single step toward the door.

"Leaving so soon? We didn't really get a chance to chat." It sounded almost like a challenge.

"Shove it, Sasori-dono. We'll see you around Sasuke, yeah," Deidara smirked, patting the younger Uchiha on the back. "Lunch tomorrow."

"Hn. See you after school, Sakura. Aniki." He departed from the room without another word.

The four remaining pairs of eyes shifted over to Sakura, who had sunken still deeper into her seat following his absence. She made a point to grab for her schoolbag in front of her and, not meeting anyone's increasingly curious stares, proceeded to bury her head within the space of the interior.

From what little she could sense outside the bag, a collective sigh was shared among the upperclassmen. She promptly ignored them, working to soothe her headache in the temporary dark. Not having lunch was making her feel a little weak.

Enjoying the few nanoseconds of blessed sanctuary to their fullest extent, Sakura grunted noncommittally when the inevitable removal of the bag came, along with the gentle coaxing of her head out of the confined space. She didn't bother to separate her forehead from the desktop to see their amused and exasperated faces.

"Thanks for being polite about it," Sakura mumbled against the wood. She didn't even care that the words were muffled and probably hard to understand.

"As always, Sakura." Itachi's dark voice was accompanied by a short, throaty chuckle.

"We live to serve." Sasori seemed to be laughing along with Itachi.

A hand came down to pat her back with well restrained strength that Sakura immediately attributed to Kisame. She barely refrained from rolling her eyes at his tendency to exaggerate the fragile way he handled her in an attempt to 'avoid breaking anything.'

"You said you were alright," the blue-haired student said disapprovingly. Sakura knew that if she raised her head she would find him frowning down at her with his brow creased like always.

"Hidan and Kakuzu could bust you out if you want, Sakura," Deidara added, just barely withholding the affectionate '-chan' from the end of her name in light of their location within the school. He smirked when she shifted slightly and grunted at his idea. "Said they ditched right after lunch, un. They could probably give you a lift home."

Deciding to raise her head now that everyone had pretty much thrown their two cents worth into what somewhat qualified as some semblance of conversation, Sakura opened her mouth to reply that she had no intention of ditching the last class of the day because that would just be lame and pointless when she caught sight of a familiar shock of silver at the doorway. The words died in her throat, and she was left to watch with sudden intensity as the stranger that she had helped that morning began to stroll calmly to the front of the room.

What was he doing here?

"What's wrong Sakura?"

Shaking her head once at Sasori's inquisition, her emerald eyes remained trained to the man's masked features. She would have to apologize for her rudeness later.

"Where's Gekkou-sensei, hmm?" Deidara asked in confusion as he took his seat behind Sakura. He wondered why the pinkette in front of him looked so intent on the guy. Answering his own question with the reasoning that their teacher was constantly absent because of apparent medical issues didn't explain her newfound curiosity for this particular substitute.

The blonde leaned forward in his seat, his long hair tickling the outer shell of Sakura's ear. She tensed slightly.

"What's so special about this guy, Sakura-chan?" he murmured lowly, keeping his voice soft as the room gradually quieted down.

Before he could get a reply the supposed substitute turned to face the class, effectively silencing all of the lingering chatter. His posture was relaxed as he stood at the front of the room, eyes lazily scanning the collection of students seated before him. Sometime during his perusal the corners of his mouth kicked up beneath his mask, and as his gaze landed on Sakura the smile seemed to sharpen.

She felt her confusion grow.

"Yo. My name is Hatake Kakashi. Unfortunately, Gekkou-san has taken an extended medical leave due to his illness so I'll be your substitute teacher for the remainder of the semester. I'm looking forward to becoming better acquainted with you all."

His eye creased warmly and he leaned against the side of the former teacher's desk as he briefly redirected his attention to a manila folder in his hands.

Sakura blinked owlishly at the news that her Pre-Calculus teacher was being replaced by Kakashi. He seemed nice enough, she supposed, and from what she could remember from their encounter that morning there wasn't really anything about him that necessarily screamed danger. Plus, she had assumed already that he had been at the school for business of some sort, so it made perfect sense that his business was to substitute.

She was probably just caught off guard, having helped him earlier and being totally unaware that around five hours later he would be her new teacher.

Satisfied with her use of self-rationalization skills for the second time today—ignoring the glaring detail that her first time had resulted in her barging in on a half naked Sasuke—Sakura relaxed onto the back of her desk. This last class was the last thing standing between her and a nice, chill night with her boys.

She could handle it.

**X**

Salvation arrived in the form of the final dismissal bell of the school day.

"Ah, is that the time already? It seems I got a little carried away with the lesson plan. We'll pick up on chapter twelve again next class." Kakashi snapped the textbook laid out in front of him shut and waved pleasantly to the departing students as they rushed to the door.

At the rear of the room Sakura massaged her temples in an attempt to digest the waves of information scattered throughout her brain. Unfamiliar diagrams and equations gnawed at her regular thought processes as she collected her things and placed them as carefully as possible into her bag. She could hardly recall a time when Pre-Calculus had ever been this fastpaced.

"Damn, I had no fucking idea what was happening after chapter ten," Deidara complained while shoving his papers into his bag. Sakura had chanced a glance back at him during one of the example problems and had found him practically pulling his hair out before giving up and beginning doodles along the margins of his notes.

"You never seem to know what's happening," Sasori replied sardonically, picking up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. His mouth was pressed into a thin line of annoyance that seemed to radiate from him in tightly compressed waves. It appeared that the unusual magnitude of the lesson had soured his mood as well.

"How rude, Sasori-dono. You've hurt me deeply." He held a hand over his heart shortly before reaching over to punch the redhead on the arm. "Light up, for kami's sake. We can head over to the playground if you want, un. Throw some dirt at some booger pickers."

"Deidara."

"Kidding, kidding. Mostly."

Sakura conked the blonde mercilessly on the head, avoiding his attempt to retaliate with a hair ruffling. She instead turned to face Itachi and Kisame, noticing without much surprise that the latter was fast asleep in his chair. His papers were nowhere to be seen so she figured that he hadn't even bothered to take them out in the first place.

Readjusting her bag, turning back momentarily to wave a goodbye to Sasori and accept a one-armed hug from Deidara as they left the classroom, the pinkette walked over to Kisame's side. His head was buried in the folds of his crossed arms, his blue hair sticking out in disarray as quiet snores that roughly resembled successive grunts erupted from his throat.

"He fell asleep sometime between rollcall and the first part of the lesson, didn't he?" Sakura asked Itachi with a knowing smirk. They were the only two left in the classroom sans Kakashi, who was sifting through some papers at his desk.

"The introduction to chapter nine," Itachi supplied almost thoughtfully, coming over to stand beside her. He seemed a little distracted, the muscles in his jaw subtly tensed and his eyes drifting out the window, but his stance was relaxed.

"Parabolas seem to be his lullaby," she laughed, placing her hand gently on the sleeping third year's shoulder.

Sakura shook him three times firmly, which seemed to rouse him into lifting his head enough so that his eyes were visible beneath his shaggy hair. He seemed understandably disoriented and groggy.

Yawning, Kisame took a long look at the empty room. He scratched his head sheepishly and offered the two standing over him a grin accompanied by a hearty laugh.

"I fell asleep again?"

Sakura nodded, bending down to pick up Kisame's bag and hand it to him. She watched with amusement as he rubbed his eyes and sighed, accepting his things with a nod of thanks before stretching out his arms far above his head.

"Well thanks for waking me up, kid. Appreciate it," Kisame told the pink-haired first year gruffly, moving to stand from his desk. He glanced over at Itachi, who met his gaze evenly with a barely noticeable smirk. "Thanks to you, too, Itachi. Good to know you have my back when it comes to falling asleep in class."

"You do not enjoy it when people disturb your sleep. I was merely respecting your wishes," Itachi returned matter-of-factly, making room for Kisame to step out of the aisle of seats. Obsidian gleamed as his blue-haired best friend bumped shoulders with him roughly in response.

The three made their way over to the doors at a moderate pace, an idle conversation being stirred up between them. Kisame had been in the process of complaining tiredly about either having to walk home or hitch a ride with Hidan and Kakuzu when out of the corner of her eye Sakura spotted Kakashi gathering his things together and standing from his seat.

Curious despite herself out of a quiet concern for how her new teacher was feeling about his first day, she was surprised to find her feet bringing her to a stop. Itachi, noticing her halt immediately, stopped as well. From his side Kisame frowned but did similarly.

"Is something wrong Sakura?" her dark-haired companion asked, his brow creasing subtly.

"Nothing's wrong," Sakura reassured them quickly. Scratching her head, she continued, "I just wanted to talk to Hatake-sensei about something before we left."

Pulling her keys from her skirt pocket, the rosette held them before Itachi. He accepted them with the smallest of frowns. "Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun are probably already waiting at the car, so you should go ahead."

He studied her intently for a few moments and she could have sworn that his eyes flashed in Kakashi's direction, but they were trained back on her too quickly to be able to tell.

"Are you sure?"

"It'll only take a second."

"…a second has long passed, Sakura."

"Itachi-kun. Don't be difficult."

Kisame intervened then, clasping Itachi's shoulder firmly enough so that the gesture was direct, but not challenging. Having had years of practice in dealing with his rather difficult friend, he prided himself for not flinching when piercing obsidian cut over to focus on him.

"Knowing Sakura she probably just wants to welcome the guy and tell him how great he was today," Kisame guessed, the affirmation of the statement displayed in the impromptu flush of Sakura's cheeks at how spot on he was. "Chill out. Give her a few minutes."

Only slightly appeased by Sakura's innocent intentions but still untrusting of the man in question's possible motives, Itachi nevertheless placed his trust with the pinkette and nodded curtly. The palpable tension in the air moved with him as he left the room with one more cautious glance between Sakura and Kakashi, and Kisame offered her a reassuring grin before he followed suit.

It didn't take long for Kakashi to reach her, and his goodnatured smile from earlier made its appearance.

"Haruno-san, correct? I never really got the chance to properly thank you for your help earlier, but I greatly appreciated it. Thanks to you I made it to my meeting with the headmistress on time." His expression remained curious and open. "So did you need something?"

Sakura shook her head, readjusting her grip on her bag. Kakashi's eyes caught the movement easily.

"It wasn't a problem, Hatake-sensei." She smiled guiltily. "I don't really need anything in particular. I just wanted to know what you thought about your first day here at Konoha Gakuen. If you don't mind my asking."

Surprise widened the corners of his eyes at her unexpected statement, and upon seeing his expression Sakura mistook the gesture as a sign that she had said something wrong and immediately backtracked.

"But never mind, it was probably stupid to ask about anyway. I'm sure you want to be heading home after such a long day-"

"No, it's alright Haruno-san. Your question caught me by surprise, that's all," Kakashi laughed, amused by her flustered response. "Hmm, well I can't complain. Konoha Gakuen is a fine school, and there are so many bright kids."

He turned to look at her fully, smirking.

"On the flip side, how do you think I did?"

Sakura shook her head, cheeks pinkening at having been put on the spot.

"Umm, well Hatake-sensei, I think you've done very well of course…"

"You look like you want to add more. Go ahead and be honest. As a teacher, the opinion of one of my students is very important in improving myself and the class as a whole."

Emerald eyes rose to meet friendly charcoal, and Sakura bit her lip. He had a point, and if she were a teacher she would probably want honest feedback as well.

"Well as a first year in a third year Pre-Calculus course class I can't really speak for everyone," she began hesitantly. At his encouraging and polite nod, she continued. "But I think that the speed of the lesson today was a little quick. From what I could tell some people had a little trouble keeping up: I'm pretty sure it's probably just because we've gotten used to Gekkou-sensei's pace through the year. We'll adjust soon enough."

Kakashi seemed to take her words very seriously as she spoke, and when she finished he nodded firmly. He adjusted the papers in his hands slightly and glanced around the room.

"I see. Thank you for telling me Haruno-san. I can certainly slow my pace to make the adjustments easier for the remaining classes to help things along," the silver-haired teacher told her with a relaxed grin. "And I'm sure that you're just as smart as your classmates, otherwise you wouldn't be here."

Sakura flushed at the compliment, returning his grin with a smile. "Thank you Hatake-sensei."

He watched her for a moment, a peculiar light set behind his gaze, before he directed his sights to a clock hanging on the wall behind her.

"Ah, I'm sorry, but Tsunade-sama is expecting me in her office for a follow up meeting in five minutes," Kakashi apologized, looking sincerely disappointed. "Thank you for your concern on my part, Haruno-san."

"Of course Hatake-sensei," Sakura replied, smile warming as she bowed. "Have a nice afternoon."

* * *

Itachi carefully set down his empty container of tempura with a light exhaled breath. Taking a brief look at the messy living room table and finding two half eaten bowls placed amid strewn rice grains and mismatched chopsticks, he felt his eyes narrow smally.

It was apparent that his otouto had forgotten his table manners.

He stood silently from his position seated on the edge of the couch with the intention of dragging Sasuke and his blonde-haired partner in crime back to the table to clean their trash, but was halted by a tug on the ends of his slacks. Glancing down he locked eyes with Sakura, who was laying flat on her back on the floor.

"Yes, Sakura?"

"I wouldn't waste my time, energy, or breath trying to get those idiots back over here to clean up," she told him simply, releasing her grip. Point sufficiently made, the pinkette rolled onto her side to face the table. "Just saying."

Itachi's features softened and, making his way over to her slumped form, bent down and scooped Sakura into his arms without difficulty. She didn't struggle or resist but she emitted a questioning hum, cheeks warming as she watched his handsome features above her.

"You are tired," he said by way of explanation, carrying her over to the couch where he had been seated previously. Keeping her in his arms Itachi settled into the cushions, lips curving up when she turned to burrow deeper into his hold in acceptance.

"That's what happens when you go jogging with a crazy fit person that doesn't even get tired after three straight hours," Sakura replied into the fabric of his white longsleeve, voice muffled. "I don't understand how you do it, Itachi-kun."

He chuckled. It had been a while since she had come running with him, but she had kept up.

"You did well Sakura."

Pulling her face from his shirt, Sakura smiled at Itachi gratefully. She seemed especially tired but her features remained bright as she looked at him, and the Uchiha found himself feeling strangely thankful for this.

Before she could stifle it, a yawn escaped her lips. Her eyelashes fluttered as she set her head back against his solid form with a sigh.

"Would you like me to take you to your room?" Itachi asked her quietly. He felt her shake her head.

"No thanks. I like talking to you like this," Sakura replied contentedly. She sounded drowsy but happy, so he didn't protest. "How…was your day?"

Itachi deliberated momentarily, searching for the proper word. He could feel Sakura giggling softly to herself at his behavior, and he eventually settled on the term he deemed appropriate.

"Tedious," he decided, barely disrupting the short flow of silence that had settled over the room as he spoke. "I'm sure that your day has been significantly more eventful than my own."

"Are you just saying that to keep me talking?" Sakura asked dubiously, angling so she could clearly see his face. The infuriating Uchiha smirk was there as per usual, which drew an exasperated sigh from her. Why he seemed to enjoy hearing about the boring details of her life she would never know.

As she began to recount the chunks of her school day in uninterested tones, Sakura's thoughts strayed back to Sasuke's slightly odd behavior twice throughout the day. She wondered if she should bring it up seeing as Itachi would definitely provide the best rationale or reasoning for the situation, but it seemed like overkill.

After school everything had been normal with Sasuke. She had left him with Naruto as planned so she could go jogging and she had bought tempura with Itachi for dinner—both things that had, understandably, annoyed him greatly. He had reacted as expected, so she supposed there wasn't anything to worry about.

"Hatake-sensei seems to like it at Konoha Gakuen," she continued without much thought. "I mentioned that some students in the class were struggling to keep up with him today, so he said he'd ease up a little."

At the mention of their masked teacher Itachi stiffened. It had been only microscopic, but Sakura turned to look at his expression. She sobered somewhat at his impassive demeanor.

"What's wrong Itachi-kun?" Itachi watched the traces of drowsiness begin to fade from her profile as she became unsettled. "Is there something about Hatake-sensei that you don't like?"

He didn't answer her as he suddenly surveyed their surroundings analytically, listening. His onyx eyes landed on her as the sound of hurried footsteps thudded down the hallway, and an almost humorless smirk cracked his blank mask. She felt his grip on her loosen.

"Sakura-chan, help me out!"

Naruto bounded into the living room noisily, catching sight of the rosette and the elder Uchiha brother together on the couch. Not sparing them a second glance he leaped into the newly awkward embrace, wide cerulean eyes remaining on the doorway.

Following Naruto's dramatic entrance, as if on cue, a disheveled Sasuke appeared, ink blotting his skin and clothes. Crumpled papers lay in his fists, and carefully controlled anger simmered beneath his tense posture. He seemed coiled to spring.

"Naruto…" he growled, the signature 'dobe' dropped in his impatience. "This is the twenty second time. What the _hell_ is so hard about writing an essay?"

Sakura stared at Naruto in disbelief until he met her reaction with a wide grin. She noticed that he had multiple stains on his shirt and shorts as well, and was grateful that he and Sasuke had changed into comfortable, baggy clothes after he had gotten permission to spend the night. Their uniforms had remained clean as far as she knew.

"You aren't finished with your essay yet?" she asked, shifting to accommodate his added mass to the relatively squashed position. "You two have been working since we got back from school. Is it even possible to not have it written by now?"

"Well, Sasuke-teme and I started listening to this new album I borrowed from Kiba-"

"Don't drag me into this."

"Don't make excuses Naruto-kun," Sakura said disapprovingly, shooting him a meaningful look.

"Take responsibility for your actions Sasuke," Itachi added, giving his younger brother a look of his own. He motioned wordlessly toward the table, indicating the second meaning to his words, and Sasuke adopted a resigned expression as he moved to the mess. Not ignoring that it wasn't just Sasuke alone, he nudged the blonde as well. "Naruto."

Ever obedient to Itachi's distinctive authority, Naruto became almost apologetic as he slid from the couch to help Sasuke. They resumed their argument in more hushed tones, and Sakura elbowed the elder Uchiha gently as he readjusted and tightened his hold on her. She could feel his amused smile.

"I'm jealous, you know? They listen to you without much trouble," she explained, watching the duo in amusement. Sasuke turned around shortly to glare at her, to which she responded with a challenging eyebrow raise. He turned back around without comment. "When will Mikoto-san be back? She'd be so proud."

"Soon," Itachi replied cryptically, smile widening at the resulting nudge from her. "Will you be sleeping in Sasuke's room tonight?"

"Come on Sakura-chan! It'll be great," Naruto encouraged, standing with his bowl to carry to the kitchen. He carried Itachi's empty container as well in his other hand. "You and Sasuke-teme can have the bed."

"Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke shrugged lightly, indifferent as he stood with Naruto. He had his bowl and Sakura's in hand as he began to walk to the kitchen.

"You can if you want Sakura. But the dobe probably won't let you sleep much."

Sakura's eyes trailed after them as they left the room, and she turned back to Itachi once they were out of sight. He was watching her expectantly, silently asking her what she wanted to do.

"Would you like to sleep in my room Sakura?" Itachi asked teasingly when she said nothing after a few moments.

Sakura rolled her eyes, moving to stand from the couch.

"I think I'll figure it out."

The strong arms surrounding her didn't shift automatically as Itachi was sorely tempted to restrain her to see her reaction, but he released her nonetheless. She didn't seem to notice his hesitation.

Dragging her feet tiredly to the threshold leading to the hallway, Sakura paused and turned back to him.

"Don't think I didn't notice that you never answered my question about Hatake-sensei," she said pointedly to his relaxed form. The corner of his mouth kicked up further.

"I thought no such thing." His tone seemed patronizing.

Ignoring the urge to argue Sakura sighed and turned back around. The sounds of Naruto and Sasuke's voices flowed to her from the kitchen nearby, and she took an instinctive step toward them before stopping. She debated with herself shortly about where to sleep.

The elder Uchiha brother chuckled when he saw her step in the direction of her own room indecisively before switching directions to head toward Sasuke's room.

"Goodnight Itachi-kun," she said over her shoulder, offering him one more warm smile as she turned back to the hallway. She and her long pink hair disappeared around the corner.

"Goodnight Sakura."

* * *

**A/N: **I've been itching for a nice highschool AU for ItaSakuSasu lately, and Sister seems to be the outlet for all of my little high school related ideas. As was mentioned above, keeping Sakura living with the Uchiha family with a rather loose definition of a 'platonic' relationship opens up so many romantic possibilities that I'm giggling on the inside.(; The plot will develop slowly but surely once the introductory chapter are complete, amidst mountains of fluff, of course.

And for those that are curious, I'm trying to keep the ItaSaku and SasuSaku fluff on even terms: but of course there will be a clear winner in the end.(:

Yours truly,

Mistress Krane


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: **Sister (Ch.3)

**Authoress: **Mistress Krane

**Summary:**Daughter to the head of one of the biggest corporations in Japan, young Sakura is only five years old when her parents are murdered. Fleeing for her life with only a necklace and her memories, she is found and adopted by the Uchiha family, who take her in and raise her as their own. Growing up in a setting of warmth, love, and happiness, it was only a matter of time before a single event sent her spiraling back down into the mysteries of her past. high school AU, ItaSakuSasu

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

**A/N: **Another chapter up and ready to go. Sorry about the extended wait between chapters, my faithful readers, but the lengths of these end up being quite the little monsters. Anyway. More notes at to come at the end.

* * *

The wind howled menacingly, rattling the window as Sakura stared up at the dark clouds through the glass. The forecast called for heavy rain for the remainder of the day if she remembered correctly, but as much as she loved storms, the thought of walking back to the house in the midst of one wasn't the most pleasant.

She turned around in her chair situated beside the front office, leaning her head against the wall.

It was weird that she was waiting for Naruto, Sasuke, _and _Itachi today.

Apparently Itachi had been requested specifically by his teacher for some kind of peer tutoring with one of his classmates with him acting as the tutor. Not seeing any real reason to refuse, he'd been a good student and complied. He wouldn't be back for another fifteen minutes or so.

Well, at least Itachi had a legitimate reason for his delay.

Because Naruto and Sasuke sure as hell didn't.

* * *

_[A few hours earlier]_

"Come on guys, I swear I won't be late for gym! Let me just turn this in to Iruka-sensei really quick. Two minutes tops."

Sakura and Sasuke turned around to stare at their antsy blonde friend with similar expressions of incredulity. He held an unrecognizably wrinkled set of papers in his hands and looked like he was about ready to piss his pants.

"You never turned that thing in?" Sasuke asked sharply, eyes narrowing. "We worked our asses off finishing that with you last night, dobe."

"I couldn't find it when he called for them at the end of class, but he said if I turned it in before his conference period he'd still give me full credit," Naruto explained, leaning to glance at the clock behind them anxiously. The post-lunch rush was coming soon, and they had to leave now.

Sakura pinned him with a withering look before glancing over at Sasuke. His expression had smoothed into one of mild irritation, and he met her gaze in silent question. He seemed indifferent enough to where it was really up to her.

"…If we go with him we can make sure he finally turns the damn thing in for good," she decided, bringing her hand up to drag it down her face heavily.

"Thanks Sakura-chan!"

Naruto wasted no time in linking his arm through hers and tugging her at an almost-run down the hallway. Sasuke tagged along rather easily, remaining calm and brisk in his walking pace as they weaved through the corridors hurriedly. The shrill dismissal bell spurred the blonde and his pink-haired attachment into a frantic start, and he adjusted his speed with a sigh.

Sakura turned slightly in Naruto's hold to catch sight of Sasuke trailing after them, and she instinctively reached out to secure his blazer sleeve in her grip as students filtered out of the classrooms in waves. She gave him a small smile, and she couldn't blame him for not returning it as he allowed himself to be pulled along through the gathering crowds for the second time that week.

"Do you still have teme?" Naruto asked over his shoulder, still pushing through the people determinedly. "We're almost there."

The trio rounded the corner and Sakura recognized the hallway that held their literature classroom. She spotted their destination three doors down.

But of course it was on the opposite side of the hall.

They were presently within the flow moving toward the other end of the corridor, which was helpful in moving them forward, but getting to the other side entailed going against the opposite current of students.

Her suggestion to continue on their current path before switching streams once past the room died in her throat as Naruto's impatience sent them headfirst into the other side.

The pull from both sides seemed to intensify: Naruto's from his increased effort to work through the crowd, and Sasuke's from said crowd's multiple attempts to pull him along with them. She fixed what she could, pulling closer to the blonde while tightening and jerking the popular Uchiha closer to her by the sleeve. Sasuke's annoyed grunt sounded closer to her ear at the action, but she paid him little heed as they finally reached the classroom.

Naruto pulled them into the room with a final tug, and they were sent sprawling through the doorway. Sakura released her holds immediately to avoid any embarrassing trips or falls, regaining her balance without much trouble. Beside her Sasuke had caught himself and closed the door securely.

"Can't we get anywhere together in this school without becoming a human chain?" Sakura complained, rubbing her upper arm lightly.

"I wouldn't count on it." Sasuke's dark eyes followed Naruto's movements, standing with his unoccupied hand in his pocket. "Dobe, are you turning in the damn paper or not?"

"Iruka-sensei isn't here! How am I supposed to turn it in?" Naruto was looking around the empty room restlessly, waving the paper in his hands around in the air.

He met Sakura's concerned gaze briefly, thinking. Then, unbidden, a scheming gleam overtook his features, and his eyes shifted to Sasuke. The Uchiha stiffened.

"Hey, Sakura-chan. Why don't you go ahead to the gym and tell Gai-sensei that we'll catch up in a few?" Naruto suggested. A relaxed grin bared his teeth, but Sakura caught the slightest of twitches at the corner. "Teme and I are going to find a way to turn this paper in."

She noticed the way his cerulean eyes were drifting to Iruka-sensei's desk, and she pieced his plan together in less than a second. The paper's were most likely held in one of the locked compartments, and the idiot was actually considering breaking into it and slipping his report inside. Her mouth dropped open.

"You can't be serious! Naruto-"

A hand came up to cover her mouth firmly, and Sasuke turned her head to glare hotly at Sasuke. He was standing behind her, frowning as his angled breath slid across her cheek.

"Calm down, Sakura. You're acting like we've never done this before." He didn't seem happy about the situation, but she could see that he was resigned to helping his best friend. "Just go to class and act normal. We'll catch up."

She growled behind his hand, unwilling to go without a fight, but Naruto had already turned toward the desk and Sasuke was leading her to the door. He overpowered her without hurting her, and she scowled as he released her outside of the classroom. He blocked the doorway with his body.

"Go to class Sakura," he repeated, this time with a smirk. He reached over and began to slide the door shut. "Wouldn't want you getting in trouble, would we?"

His arrogant features disappeared behind the door just as her fist connected with the spot where his face had been. Her scowl softened into a simple frown as the lock clicked from the inside, and she took a step backward into the empty hallway.

There wasn't anything she could do about it now.

Turning away from the classroom and breaking into a slow jog, Sakura began to make her way to the gym, wincing at the loud bang that could be heard through the walls. She didn't change her pace, believing firmly that Naruto and Sasuke would be fine without her bailing them out.

They wouldn't get caught.

* * *

Kami, they had gotten caught. Imagine that.

Iruka-sensei had been the one to find them, having forgotten some files for his conference on his desk. They had been in the process of finding the fifth period stack in the drawer when he'd stumbled across them. From what they'd told her, his expression had been an interesting mix of horrified and pissed.

Considering the circumstances and how much trouble they could've been in, Iruka-sensei had practically given them a free pass. It was common knowledge that he had a soft spot for Naruto despite his mischievous tendencies, and as far as he knew Sasuke was just a good student that had never misbehaved before in the past.

Because of this he hadn't reported the incident to the headmistress and hadn't even filed a formal detention record. The only thing required of them was to repair the desk and accept the deducted credit on their reports, though it was still shocking that he had even agreed to accept Naruto's paper.

Sakura shook her head. Unbelievable.

The hallway stretched out before her, and after a number of minutes staring at nothing but empty space she caught sight of her new Pre-Calculus teacher rounding the corner. His eyes were downcast, focused on some documents balanced on his arm with a thermal mug he had grasped in his hand. In his other hand he carried his suitcase for work and a pen. She couldn't help thinking that if he were any less coordinated everything would have tumbled out of balance by now.

Not wanting to startle him by yelling a greeting Sakura remained quiet, watching him casually make his way down the hall. His mask from the previous day was still in place, and she wondered if he would ever come to school without it. Judging from the outlines under the form fitting material, he was probably quite handsome beneath it.

Wait. She had _so _not just gone there.

Kakashi chose that moment to look up, and the fact that he'd caught her staring and blushing darkened her cheeks further. If he noticed her discomfort from where he was standing he didn't say anything about it, and as he approached her she willed the color to fade from her face.

"Good afternoon, Haruno-san," Kakashi greeted, coming to a halt a respectable distance in front of her. "You're still here so late after school?"

"I'm waiting for my friends," Sakura explained with a smile, standing politely to offer him a bow. "Do you have another meeting with the headmistress, Hatake-sensei?"

The fabric of his mask shifted as he smiled, and she averted her eyes to prevent any more potentially inappropriate thoughts from arising. It wouldn't be good to get flustered with him so close.

"No, but I managed to snag a parking spot close to the front entrance," he explained, sounding amused. She hoped it wasn't because of her. "So coming this way would be the quickest route to my car, ne? Unless you can point me in the direction of a shortcut."

Sakura laughed at that, still keeping her eyes firmly away from his face. His chuckles were accompanied by a light, successive tapping noise that she realized was the rain. She turned to look outside.

"Wasn't expecting the rain today," Kakashi commented nonchalantly, drawing her gaze back to him. He was looking at the items in his hands thoughtfully. "Guess it pays off to actually listen to those weathermen once in awhile."

"Do you not have an umbrella, Hatake-sensei?" Sakura asked, concerned. With everything that he was carrying though, she doubted that he would even be able to hold it up for himself if he'd had one.

"Mine broke a long time ago. Never found the time to buy a new one."

Sakura frowned at him, and smirked upon seeing her disgruntled expression. It wouldn't be good if he caught a cold on his second day on the job, but he didn't seem the type to be all too concerned with his health. He looked like he would be laughing at the umbrella concerns etched into her face waiting to spill out if not for common courtesy.

"Don't worry Haruno-san. A little rain never hurt anyone," he said lightly, settling for a grin instead of laughter. The look on her face must have told him that she still didn't believe that, so he attempted a placating gesture as best he could with occupied hands.

"But if it'll make you feel better, I'll go and buy one. Today."

Oddly enough, the promise appeased the pink-haired first year. The stubborn glint in her eyes faded and she was left smiling pleasantly at him once again. The health of others was something she always paid special attention to, and she disliked seeing people ignoring things that could damage their bodies willy-nilly.

Her lips quirked up further at the sight of his raised brow, but she changed the subject easily.

"So how were the rest of your classes? I hope they went well."

Kakashi couldn't help smirking at the generic yet somewhat personal conversation topics. He was starting to like this girl more and more.

"They did go well, thank you. No doubt because of your advice to slow the speed of the lessons," he told her appreciatively. The eye crease that she was rapidly becoming accustomed to made its appearance. "The students seemed very receptive to the concepts, and some started getting involved after awhile. You've helped me greatly once again, it seems."

Sakura blushed at the compliments, shifting uncomfortably. "I really didn't do anything. I'm sure they enjoyed your teaching methods."

Piercing charcoal eyes observed the pinkette curiously. Only moments before she had held an air of assertion and determination about her, and now she seemed docile and delicate. Neither of the countenances were insincere, and the fact that they were so readily interchangeable fascinated him.

When Kakashi didn't reply Sakura looked up to find him watching her with an unreadable expression. Heaving dealt with such expressions in the past, present, and the potential future with her Uchiha companions, she huffed in irritation before catching herself. This was still a teacher she was talking to, after all.

"Is something wrong Hatake-sensei?"

His eyes cleared at her question, but she still couldn't read what was behind them. She restrained a frown.

"Hn? Nothing's wrong." The smile shifted into a grin.

Sakura blinked owlishly at her silver-haired teacher's boyish expression. The hint of a sparkle in his eyes was accompanied by his comfortable slouch and wide smile, and she couldn't help simply staring at him. He seemed so much younger than all of the other teachers, she noted idly.

Realizing that her train of thought was veering uncomfortably close to the wrong kind of category once again, she shook her head once to clear it. Thinking about her teacher in a way that was anything less than professional wasn't the smartest thing to do. Especially only after the first real conversation she'd had with the man.

Kakashi shifted slightly and adjusted the mug in his hand, seeing the inner conflict that flitted across her eyes. It only lasted a moment though, because she adopted a concerned frown at the movement, mistaking it for discomfort.

"I'm sorry, you've been standing there with all of those things this entire time," Sakura apologized, holding out her hand in an offer of assistance.

He hesitated at the unexpected offer, but submitted to the earnest light in her gaze. He handed her his mug and documents.

"Do you need help bringing everything to your car?"

Kakashi shook his head, bending down and setting his suitcase on the ground. He opened it and placed his pen into one of the inner pockets before looking up at her.

"I'll manage as long as these documents don't get wet," he replied, gesturing to the papers with a smile. "But thank you for the offer, Haruno-san."

Sakura obligingly handed over the documents. Feeling awkward looking down at her sensei, she lowered herself onto the balls of her feet in front of him and offered him a warm smile. She turned the thermal mug over in her hands, curious.

"I didn't take you for a coffee person," Sakura said thoughtfully.

Feeling unusually bold and inquisitive, she flipped the small cap open and sniffed casually, missing the way Kakashi tensed at her actions.

_This smell…_

Her eyes widened in surprise and she tittered off balance. Kakashi's hand shot out to keep the thermal from spilling onto her as she landed on her rear with a small 'oof.' The two stared at one another for a moment before exchanging sheepish smiles.

Offering her his other hand, Kakashi pulled both of them up from the ground. His fingers had closed over hers around the mug, enveloping her hand, and upon seeing the tint of red across the bridge of her nose, he loosened both of his grips and let his arms fall back to his sides with a small cough, unused to dealing with such situations.

"Ah, are you alright, Haruno-san?"

She nodded quickly, smoothing a stray lock of hair and tucking it behind her ear. Recalling a vague memory of Itachi smoothly pointing out to her not long ago that he'd noticed the gesture to be a nervous habit of hers, she froze and dropped her hand.

"Umm, yes, I'm fine…" She found herself averting her eyes again.

The silence was becoming increasingly uncomfortable for both parties as neither knew what to say. Kakashi, feeling responsible and recognizing that he should say something to lighten the atmosphere as her teacher, struggled to find the right words while Sakura tried to piece together a decent apology for her behavior.

They were both saved the trouble when a third voice chimed in lightly.

"Fancy meeting you here Sakura-chan. Already chatting with the new teacher, hmm?"

Relief filling her at the welcome distraction along with a twinge of almost irritation at her friend's lack of manners, Sakura turned to Deidara with a frown she didn't really mean. Her eyes flickered over to Kakashi and then back to him pointedly. She received an impish smirk in return.

"Okay then. How's it hanging, Hatake-sensei, yeah?" he greeted laxly, raising his hand in greeting to the older man.

Keeping her jaw firmly in place at his blatant disregard for propriety, Sakura looked over sharply at Kakashi, only to find him smiling politely at the blonde.

"Good afternoon." He didn't seem to mind Deidara's lack of formality, and Sakura released an inaudible sigh. Deidara's smirk widened at the sight, but he refrained from commenting as Kakashi continued, "I'm sorry, I can't quite remember your name…"

"Just Deidara is fine, un."

"Deidara-san. If I'm not mistaken, you're in my fourth period along with Haruno-san, correct?"

Deidara nodded. Sakura was watching him cautiously, and he grinned at her expression when he nodded casually. "Yep."

The outburst tumbled out before she could stop it.

"Hatake-sensei, please excuse Deidara's behavior-"

Kakashi silenced the flustered pinkette with a wave of his hand, chuckling. He tacked 'respect for authority' onto the growing list of characteristics for her in his mind.

"It's alright Haruno-san. I want my students to feel comfortable around me," he insisted, noting the way she was glaring daggers at the unrepentant third year. By the way they's referred to one another and interacted thus far he could tell that they were quite close, and he mentioned so teasingly.

"The two of you appear to be quite comfortable around each other as well. Are you involved together?"

Two interesting reactions ensued following his purposely incorrect inquiry, both similar in their embarrassment but varying in displays.

"N-no, it's not like that, yeah. Sakura-chan and I are friends," Deidara stuttered, cheeks pinkening. Compared to Sakura's, his complexion still looked downright pale; she was beet red and darkening. "We've practically known each other forever."

The perceptive teacher didn't miss the way the blonde's eyes continually shifted over to the Sakura to gauge her reaction to his words as he spoke. It was clear that he cared deeply about her, but whether or not it was in a romantic way remained to be seen.

"Deidara's right. We're just friends," Sakura reinforced softly. Her face was still three shades darker than her hair, but her voice was steady. Either she wasn't as affected as Deidara, or she was controlling her reaction a lot better than he was. He was willing to bet that it was the latter from what he could tell from her somewhat troubled expression.

"Oh, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. I didn't mean to make things awkward," Kakashi apologized, looking guilty and surprised.

He didn't want to offend them by allowing his amusement to manifest into a smirk, so he kept his features firmly set as Sakura rushed to reassure him. Deidara, blush lingering, kept his eyes trained on the wall, grunting his forgiveness.

This was certainly an interesting development that he, as a secret romantic himself, was looking forward to watching. But as it was, the subject was still touchy at the moment.

He had best be off.

"It's been nice talking to you, Haruno-san. Deidara-san. But I have to get going," Kakashi announced once the air had lightened up a bit. He picked up his suitcase from the ground.

"Sorry for bothering you for so long Hatake-sensei." Sakura smiled slightly, feeling the sense of normalcy return as they said their goodbyes.

"See you," Deidara waved shortly, feeling similarly. The smallest of smirks had returned, and Kakashi smirked as well.

As Sakura returned the thermal to her teacher she remembered just what had shocked her earlier. The force had made her stiff when the scent registered in her mind, causing her misbalance, but she didn't allow that to excuse the actions that had resulted in their discomfort afterward. She owed him something of an explanation.

"Umm, the reason I was so surprised earlier was because I recognized the smell of your drink."

Kakashi froze abruptly, mug in hand. His gaze became intense and piercing as he eyed her contemplative features. Deidara, too, was watching her curiously at her tone.

"You've smelled that before?" Kakashi asked guardedly.

She didn't seem to be paying attention to the edge on his tone as she nodded thoughtfully. Her brows furrowed.

"I remember…the tea fragrance. From when I was little. I…I used to drink it all the time before…"

A sharp pain cut through her head as she struggled to remember, and her vision spun as she stumbled forward. A persistent, aching throb was pounding against her skull and she vaguely registered fumbling into a pair of strong, steady arms as black spots blotted her sight.

"Itachi?" Deidara's shocked voice floated into her ears, and as she breathed in the comforting scent of musk and pine surrounding her she knew that Itachi was holding her. "Where'd you come from, hmm?"

Itachi didn't reply, adjusting his arms around her. Trying once again to remember, her eyes tightened shut as another stab of pain came sent her reeling and the Uchiha squeezed her form gently to his chest in response. She couldn't see what was happening, but she could feel three pairs of concerned eyes on her.

"What happened?" Itachi's voice was low and just short of threatening, and Sakura didn't have to guess twice to know who he was addressing. He wasn't going to blame Hatake-sensei for this.

"It wasn't anybody's fault. I just got dizzy," Sakura answered quietly, fighting against another throb. She couldn't understand why trying to remember was hurting so much.

Even though it was obvious that he didn't believe her, Itachi didn't push any further. Sakura forced her eyes open dazedly, and found his deep obsidian eyes boring into her with solemn concern and intent. From this distance she could see his worry for her clearly, and she offered him a small, reassuring smile.

Turning her head, she caught Kakashi looking at her with guilt accompanied by an almost indiscernible amount of interest. She didn't want him blaming himself somehow.

"You said you need to get going, right Hatake-sensei? I'll be fine," she reassured him, smiling. She couldn't help adding teasingly, "Unless you need me to remind you where the front door is."

The friendly jibe appeared to loosen some of the tension in his posture, but even as he smiled she could easily see his slight anxiety.

"Thank you, but I think I'll manage. I'll see you three in class tomorrow. Feel better, Haruno-san." The playful tint was absent from his tone, and she frowned.

He turned with a short wave, one hand in his pocket and the other carrying his suitcase. The way he carried himself suggested almost laziness, but she could still pick out the tense set of his muscles as he walked. The troublesome mug hung loosely from his hand, and its contents reminded her of the health issue she'd brought up earlier.

"Hatake-sensei, you need an umbrella!"

Kakashi stopped just as he rounded the corner, and his chuckled echoed down the hallway. She couldn't help thinking that he was laughing at her in some way, but she brushed it off. She was just relieved to see his posture slacken almost completely.

As her teacher's form disappeared from sight Sakura turned to look at Deidara, who she realized was laughing as well. He was looking at her with a peculiar expression.

"It isn't raining, Sakura-chan," he informed her, gesturing loosely to the window. A grin was threatening to break across his face as she saw that, true to his word, a layer of heavy clouds remained lacking the rain itself.

Tamping down her annoyance, she told herself that at least she had made her sensei feel better and had prevented his potential catching of a cold or flu.

"Are you alright Sakura?"

Itachi's soft question blew against the nape of her neck, and she shivered lightly at the sensation. In her comfort she'd almost forgotten that he was holding her in a place near the front of the school where, despite the late hour, the wrong people might see them.

"I'm fine, Itachi-kun. You can let me go."

Her words were gentle as she attempted to pull out of his hold, but rather predictably he allowed no such thing. Her cheeks pinkened in embarrassment when he pulled her closer to his chest instead, his arms tightening protectively as he prompted her to look at him.

"Is your head still in pain?" he asked, ignoring her weak reassurances. His features were carefully blank as he studied her with an almost clinical detachment. "Do you feel nauseous?"

Used to his straightforward questions and seeing that she wasn't getting out of this until he was fully satisfied, Sakura gave herself a mental checkup. The pain in her head had mostly receded and her stomach was far from queasy. It didn't seem like the sensation would be coming back anytime soon. She sighed.

Her hand ghosted against the Uchiha's cheek soothingly, a sweet smile forming on her lips as his features thawed under her fingers.

"I'm fine," she said again. "Stop worrying."

Itachi's eyes warmed.

"You cannot prevent me from doing so."

Sakura lowered her hand, shaking her head. She couldn't prevent the flood of color to her cheeks for what felt like the millionth time that day at the muted sincerity to his words. Itachi didn't say anything further on the subject as he finally loosened his grip on her.

Not completely withdrawing from him Sakura turned to look at Deidara. Her blonde friend appeared preoccupied as he stared at the rain that had evidently picked up again outside.

As she observed his unusually thoughtful expression, Kakashi's mistaken assumption popped into her mind. The longer she thought about it the more troubled she became, and she figured that it would be best not to dwell on such things for long. Absently, she wondered if he was thinking about it as well.

Without warning, like he'd felt the weight of her pressing stare, azure eyes slid over to lazily meet probing emerald. His heavy disposition lightened and adopted its usual teasing quality when he caught her visible chagrin at being noticed, and he grinned.

"Hey, I know I'm sexy, but you don't have to stare at me like that, un."

His playful wink earned him an eye roll and a glare.

"Says the junior who's never had a girlfriend before," Sakura pointed out dryly.

"You know I'm waiting for the right girl," he replied, unaffected. He waved a dismissive hand.

His gaze sharpened suddenly, and even from a distance she could detect his concern.

"But you're absolutely sure that you're fine, hmm? Wouldn't want you fainting on us."

Pulling away from Itachi completely to demonstrate her health, she nodded.

"I feel fit as fiddle," she announced with a smile, stretching out her arms full length on either side to stretch. The muscles in her shoulders popped and a sigh escaped her. "Don't worry."

Her long, pale arms stretched directly in front of her as she strained to loosen her joints as well, and she found herself vaguely confused when the blonde smirked impishly. Emerald eyes watched him warily.

"What?"

And then Deidara was approaching her, shaking his head as he laughed quietly. His arms were around her before she could figure out what he was doing and, stunned, she brought her hands up to rest lightly on his back.

"Holding your arms out like that is like an open invitation, you know," he mumbled into her hair, his chuckles rumbling against her cheek. His arms were wrapped securely around her waist.

"Deidara…" Sakura's voice trailed off in surprise, not knowing what to say. She relaxed into his hold, leaning against his chest as his laughter slowed to a stop.

"Don't go collapsing out of nowhere on us like that, yeah." His voice was serious as he pulled back enough to look at her fully. It seemed that it was his turn to fuss. "Okay?"

Sakura's gaze softened, and she wondered just what she'd done to deserve such caring friends.

"Okay."

Deidara's resulting smile had her pulling him close again with a smile of her own. The same earthy scent of gravel and honey that always seemed to stick to him smothered her senses, and she tightened her grip on his blazer briefly. They hadn't been this close in a long time.

The third year holding her was having similar thoughts as he idly smoothed the ends of her long pink hair. He wondered to himself when it had grown out so much, noting that the strands almost fell to the small of her back. Last he'd checked they had barely reached her mid back.

"Deidara." Itachi's soft voice pulled him out of his idle musings.

He looked up at once at the undertone of warning, but the Uchiha's eyes were focused down the hallway.

When he didn't elaborate Deidara followed is line of vision intently. For all intents and purposes the corridor appeared empty, but knowing that Itachi wasn't one to play with him like that he strained his ears as well.

The telltale echo of footsteps sounded, and the accelerated clicks of their heels grew closer. Whoever it was seemed to be running.

"Shit." He cursed lowly. Sakura wouldn't like it if someone saw them like this. He attempted to pull away.

Then a familiar head of spiky blonde hair and its dark haired partner in crime sprinted into his line of vision. He and Itachi released invisible sighs of relief.

Sasuke and Naruto slammed into the lockers on the opposite wall with a loud bang, not appearing to have made an attempt to slow down to lessen the impact. Deidara felt Sakura jerk in his arms at the clatter before turning her head sharply in their direction with a glare.

"I won, Sasuke-bastard!"

"You wish. And what did you call me, idiot?"

"Oh. I meant Sasuke-bitch. I win."

Sasuke had to forcibly hide his angered twitch as he peeled himself from the lockers. Naruto, grinning, followed suit.

"You're delusional, you son of a-"

"Vulgarity, Sasuke." Itachi interrupted before the harsh word could spill from his younger brother's lips.

The bickering first years turned at the voice, noticing their small audience. Naruto's grin widened, sensing a resolution to the argument, and proceeded to question the witness.

"Ne, Itachi, I totally beat Sasuke's ass, right?"

Itachi seemed to deliberate thoughtfully for a moment.

"You both arrived simultaneously."

The elder Uchiha's deadpan was lost on Sasuke, who had taken to glaring at Deidara instead. The honey blonde was holding Sakura in his arms with an almost cocky grin, though his arrogance was lost on the pinkette who was glaring in their direction.

"Deidara. Let go of Sakura," Sasuke demanded coldly.

Naruto snapped to attention at the prospect of his best female friend receiving affection from someone other than Sasuke, Itachi, or himself, forgetting the fact that he'd tied in the race. His cerulean eyes zeroed in on the two as well.

"Hey! Get your hands off of Sakura-chan!"

Sakura's glare intensified at their idiotic behavior. They always overreacted whenever something like this happened; it was Deidara for kami's sake, not some random pervert.

"Stop acting like idiots," she told them with a roll of her eyes. She offered Deidara a small smile before dropping her arms and stepping away. His arms dropped obediently, but an amused smirk remained as he watched the irritated duo. "Deidara is my friend, just like you guys. There's no need ot get all worked up."

"So I can hug Sakura-chan whenever the hell I want, yeah," he interjected smugly, grinning at Sakura. She couldn't help smiling wryly at his declaration.

As expected, Naruto and Sasuke didn't take kindly to this. They were in front of them in a heartbeat.

"Like hell you're going to smother Sakura-chan like that."

"I never said anything about smothering her. Hard of hearing, hmm?"

"My hearing is just fine!"

"Naruto-kun, don't yell. We're still inside the building."

"You aren't seriously going to just let him hug you whenever he wants."

"Is it so hard for you to believe that we're friends, damn it? It's not like he feels me up or anything."

"Exactly, un."

Deidara, highly amused by now, looked at the three underclassmen glaring in different directions. He glanced over at Itachi, who appeared almost bored as he stared out the window at the drizzle, and decided that maybe it was time to shove off.

A thought occurred to him as he reached into his pocket for his keys, and before he knew it he was asking.

"Do you four need a ride?"

Curious stares were automatically shot in his direction at the question. He had to keep himself from sighing. There was no taking it back now.

"That would be much appreciated, Deidara." Itachi's soft voice followed shortly after a small bout of silence.

"Thank you," Sakura added. She glared at Sasuke and Naruto, daring them to protest. They appeared mutinous, but said nothing. "You saved us from having to walk home in the rain."

"No problem," Deidara grunted, pulling out his keys and twirling them around his finger. "Let's get out of here, yeah."

**X**

For one reason or another, Sakura preferred to do her homework on the back porch. She liked to think it was because of the fresh air and lack of distractions.

Tucking her completed biology worksheet into her binder and sighing, the pinkette leaned back in her chair. The air felt damp and heavy as the rain continued rather mildly, and she contented herself with listening to the taps of the droplets as they landed against the roof. The final weeks of the spring seemed to be squeezing out as many showers as possible, not that she minded in particular.

It could have been a few minutes or an hour that she spent lounging there and listening to the rain. A wry smile curled her lips as she remembered a time when she'd been afraid of thunderstorms. The notion was amusing, considering she now found them rather comforting.

"Do I get to know the joke?"

The dry, almost bored question came from over her left shoulder.

"Nope. You wouldn't get it anyway," Sakura half teased.

Out of the corner of her eye she noted that he'd come to stand beside her seated form. Now she could see his frown.

"It sounds like you're implying that my sense of humor is worse than yours," he almost snorted softly. "Which is impossible."

She laughed at the idea of Uchiha Sasuke of all people claiming to have a better sense of humor than anyone.

"I know you're jealous. Your bitterness is to be expected."

"I'm not bitter."

"Keep telling yourself that. Denial is a normal part in the process to recovery."

Sasuke tilted his head to glare at the pinkette lightly. She knew that he wasn't really upset by his relaxed slouch, and just offered him an innocent smile in return.

He didn't comment, and after a long moment he redirected his gaze to silently disregard the conversation as if it were beneath him. Sakura almost rolled her eyes outright. It seemed he was picking up on some of his brother's habits.

"So did you need something Sasuke-kun? Or did you just come out to bother me because you missed me so much." Sakura reached over to the table to straighten her books and papers impulsively.

Sasuke watched her obsessive movements, releasing an exasperated sigh.

"Kaasan asked me to come get you. She's waiting in the kitchen," he informed her.

Adopting the sudden urge to irritate his best friend he pulled her biology worksheet from within the pile, succeeding in moving the papers out of position as he read over it curiously with a smirk. The answers all looked correct, as expected.

"Alright. I'll be over in a minute," she said testily. Snatching her paper back with a glare, she finished arranging her things and stood to gather it all into her arms. Sasuke surprised her by choosing to carry a couple of her binders, but only grunted when she sent him a questioning glance. "Thanks."

Deciding to drop off everything in Sakura's room first, the two went back into the house and ghosted up the stairs. The rain could clearly be heard against the walls and the roof of the unusually quiet house as they padded down the hall.

They arrived at her room quickly enough, moving to set everything beside her schoolbag. Once everything was placed they headed down to the kitchen.

Mikoto was fluttering around the room when they found her, movements graceful but hurried. The Uchiha matriarch continued about collecting her supplies for a few moments before taking notice of the two standing at the door. Her trademark obsidian eyes lightened in relief at their presence.

"Thank you for bringing her Sasuke," Mikoto smiled, barely pausing in her actions as she addressed them. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything Sakura-chan."

"Don't worry Mikoto-san. I'd already finished my homework when Sasuke-kun came to get me," she assured her.

"Good, good."

Mikoto continued on, apparently lost in thought as she chopped a carrot into thin strips. Sakura and Sasuke remained in the doorway almost awkwardly, waiting for some form of instruction or explanation for their summoning. When it didn't come for a few minutes, Sakura finally asked.

"Did you need help with something?" she prodded carefully.

Almost as if she'd forgotten they were there, Mikoto jumped slightly at her voice. A sheepish smile made its way onto her kind features as she finally slowed to a stop, turning to fully regard them.

"I'm sorry, I'm a little frazzled. Fugaku will be home in around two hours and he mentioned the possibility of an associate joining us for dinner." Ever the perfect hostess, she was understandably stressed with the slight shortness of time. Her distress was visible from across the room.

"I've already got most of the meal going here, but I realized we're almost out of hoisin sauce and completely out of umeboshi. I hate to send you two on foot in this weather, but I think Itachi-chan fell asleep and I don't want to wake him. He always seems so tired. Can you go to the store for me?"

Sakura nodded obediently, elbowing Sasuke when she caught his soft sigh.

"Yes kaasan."

"You can count on us."

"Thank you. You two are lifesavers," Mikoto said gratefully. Gesturing with the knifepoint in the direction of the door she added, "Don't forget an umbrella. We only have one at home right now, so you'll have to share. Feel free to buy another one at the store if you want."

Recognizing a dismissal when they saw one, Sakura and Sasuke hastily retreated from the kitchen.

Upon Sakura's insistence they made their way to the hallway closet where she pulled out a pair of light brown flat boots and a pair of old tennis shoes. She shoved the athletic shoes into a reluctant Sasuke's hands before sliding on her boots over her sweats.

Footwear sufficiently taken care of, Sakura closed the closet and proceeded to the front door, Sasuke in tow. Leaned against the wall was the same compact umbrella that they'd had for years, small enough to fit into a purse or handbag. Sasuke bent over to pick it up, eyeing it dubiously.

"We're supposed to share this." Thick disbelief colored his voice.

"You'd better believe it." She held up her wallet and house keys and motioned to her pocketless state. "You're on umbrella duty. I don't want anything falling into a mud puddle by accident."

"Hn."

Sakura ignored his irritated grunt and pulled open the door. It was pouring buckets outside, but the thankfully the wind wasn't out of control.

She ushered Sasuke out of the house before locking it behind him, and when she turned around the umbrella was already stretched open. He signaled her over to join him under the minimal cover and it wasn't until she arrived at his side that she noted how little protection they would have.

Without warning the Uchiha stepped down onto the muddy dirt path, leaving her no choice but to follow. A waterfall of rain instantly cascaded down her exposed arm and, surprised, she skirted closer to Sasuke with a muted squeak.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and sighed, adjusting the umbrella. Also taking note of her anxious proximity to him, he deliberated shortly before deciding to offer her his arm. He wasn't surprised when she accepted it gratefully.

"Sorry."

He almost didn't hear her mumbled apology over the pounding of the rain. A small smirk nudged the corners of his lips.

"It's fine."

Sakura's grip on his arm remained secure on his arm for the rest of the trip.

The sidewalk provided only some safety from the treacherous streets that narrowly avoided flooding, and though Sakura suspected that Sasuke's shoes must've been soaked through he never said anything. He never mentioned her invasive behavior, and she idly wondered how uncomfortable he was as they walked the last few streets to the small market.

Before they knew it they were entering the modest establishment, the cool air providing a stark contrast from the muggy and humid air outside.

Sakura winced at the audible squishing of her boots as she unlatched from Sasuke. He watched her amusedly as he shook off the umbrella and set it down beside the door, joining her without a single squeak of his rubber shoes.

"How can you do that?" she asked with a frown. "I swear it's impossible."

"There's no need to be jealous," he told her condescendingly. A mocking yet teasing tone edged his words, be he didn't add anything further as he began walking to the produce section.

Sakura couldn't help her grudging smile as she followed him.

It didn't take long for them to gather the needed supplies. Under normal circumstances she would have dawdled around for quite some time, but with their unfortunate time restraint the made their way over to the register.

The woman working the register smiled warmly as she rang them up.

"Is this all for you today?" she asked politely as her fingers punched over the keyboard.

The routine inquiry served as an abrupt reminder to Sakura that Mikoto had offered them the option to buy another umbrella for the return trip. She tossed Sasuke a questioning glance, but he answered with a subtle shake of his head.

"Yes, that will be all," Sasuke replied coolly.

The woman nodded and moved to print the receipt after accepting Sakura's money, but a frown appeared between her brow. She fiddled with the machine for a few seconds, unaware of Sasuke's silently growing impatience, before looking up at them with a guilty grin.

"I'm sorry, it seems the printer is out of paper. Please excuse me."

"That isn't-" Sakura's attempts to tell her that they really didn't need a receipt were brushed off as the woman scurried off before she could finish.

Her breath escaped her in a sigh, and beside her Sasuke scowled.

"Kaasan will be expecting us soon," he complained, just barely refraining from glaring at the retreating woman's figure.

Without a word he walked in the direction of the exit, retrieving the compact umbrella before coming back to Sakura's side.

"We've made decent time," she pointed out. Emerald eyes ran over the umbrella and the slowed rain outside, lightening in the hopes that the walk back would be a little less troublesome. Sasuke noticed this and refrained from rolling his eyes at her incessant worrying. "And we probably don't even need another umbrella."

Sasuke grunted his agreement, eyes searching for their wayward cashier. His sharp gaze caught sight of the middle-aged woman just as she approached them, paper in hand.

"I apologize for the inconvenience," she said as she refilled the machine.

"These things happen for a reason," Sakura assured her with a smile. "Right, Sasuke-kun?"

He cast her a disinterested glance. "Hn."

Sakura frowned, reaching over to take the umbrella from Sasuke. She missed the added gleam to the cashier's eyes as she jabbed him with the end and leaned closer to hiss in his ear, "Would it kill you to be a little more social? Be polite."

The pinkette withdrew with a sweet smile.

Slightly dreamy eyes regarded the disgruntled Uchiha and his innocent-looking female companion wistfully as the older woman handed Sakura the receipt.

"If I may say, it's always a pleasure assisting such a beautiful young couple," she sighed with a smile. "Oh, to be young and in love."

Sakura almost gaped outright at the completely incorrect assumption. Her face warmed and she was abruptly reminded of the similar occurrence earlier that had involved Deidara. The chances of it happening twice in once day had to be almost nonexistent, and yet it was happening again.

"We're not…together in that way," she said quickly. "We're just good friends."

Much to her consternation, the woman didn't seem to believe her. She continued to smile even as she handed a stiff Sasuke their bagged goods.

"Childhood friends?" she asked knowingly. The way she was regarding them made Sakura a little uneasy.

"Yes. Childhood friends." Sasuke's tone was bordering on sharp, and almost rude. But he was clearly uncomfortable.

"I see. I apologize for misunderstanding," she said, sounding polite but unrepentant. It was obvious that her opinion hadn't changed. Still, she bowed and continued, "Thank you for shopping with us. Please be sure to keep dry."

She eyed their small umbrella, a brief flash of mischievous amusement curving her smile.

"I would advise keeping close."

Wanting nothing more than to escape the increasingly awkward conversation, Sakura just nodded with a forced smile.

Soon she and Sasuke were hurrying out of the market, umeboshi and hoisin sauce in hand. If she'd thought that the trip back had been uncomfortable for Sasuke, the trip back was going to be doubly as bad with her riled as well.

She stifled a groan.

Great.

* * *

Kakashi looked up curiously as a streak of pink crossed his peripheral vision.

Sure enough, there was Haruno Sakura appearing to be rushing out the market doors accompanied, curiously enough, by a raven-haired young man. A fine silver brow lifted at the sight.

It looked like a certain pink-haired first year had another male companion. One that she felt close enough with to bring on domestic errands.

Their conversation from earlier provided him with much to think about. Thoughts drifted through his mind as she perused the rack of umbrellas situated a few feet away from the registers.

Sakura was a genuinely caring person; that much was obvious.

Her concern for his wellbeing had revealed to him the more determined, stubborn facet of her personality as well that obviously wouldn't tolerate any chance of harm befalling others, especially harm that could be prevented.

Along with that trait, however, was the shy and easily flustered part of her that was normal among girls her age. Her blushes, he found, were quite easy to trigger, which amused him greatly.

Bundled together with her bright intelligence and many more undiscovered aspects that came together to make up her unusual character, he found himself becoming increasingly intrigued with her. Her reaction to the smell of his tea only served to reinforce his suspicion that she was of vital importance to his current goal.

A pang of guilt coursed through him as he recalled her pained attempt to dredge up a certain memory regarding the smell. He wondered about the very likely possibility that if he continued to pursue this cause, then more of her pain would follow. The notion was certainly an unpleasant one.

In any case, he would continue his current course of action.

Observation.

"Ah." He murmured his quiet approval of a simple black umbrella mixed in the collection of vibrant hues, reaching over to pick it up by the handle. He found no damage to the product and proceeded to the next available register lazily.

"Good afternoon Hatake-san," greeted the cashier with warm familiarity. Kakashi looked up to find light brown eyes trained on him, crinkled into a smile. His lips curved into a small smirk. "It's nice to see you again."

"Likewise, Shizuko-san," he returned, handing her his intended purchase. "I trust you've been well."

She laughed, wasting no time in scanning the item and relaying the price to him.

"I've been as well as you'd expect," she sighed. Accepting his payment and pulling out the change, she rolled her eyes fondly when he rejected the money with a raise of his hand.

"Keep the change." His quiet insistence brought another smile to her lips. She had long since tried stopping him, and instead settled for heartfelt gratitude.

"Thank you." Handing him his new umbrella, she developed a grin that held the telltale signs of gossip and leaned forward excitedly. "Ne, I saw the cutest couple in here a few minutes ago," she chattered. "The boy was one of the most handsome I've ever seen, and the girl was pretty little thing with pink hair – pink, of all things!"

"Ah, is that so?" he asked curiously, playing along with an amused smirk.

"They denied it of course," she continued airily, dismissing the notion with a wave of her hand. Then her grin widened. "But that's how it always starts between childhood friends. You could see the love between these two, Hatake-san. It's only a matter of time."

Kakashi shook his head in light exasperation, used to his friend's overdramatic tendencies. The fact that Sakura was childhood friends with yet another handsome man didn't escape his notice. He tucked the tidbit of information away for later.

"Well it was nice talking to you," she said pleasantly as she handed him his receipt. "Thank you for listening to this crazy old woman's ramblings. Please come and see us again soon."

"Have a nice day Shizuko-san." The silver-haired man nodded, smiling beneath his mask. He turned and made his way toward the door.

Back braced to push through the exit, he paused just long enough to put his new purchase to work before continuing out the store.

With the smallest of smirks he sauntered carelessly through the rain, new umbrella in hand and raised over his head. Oh, if only Haruno-san could see him now.

She would be so proud.

* * *

He was awake before she came into the room.

Her characteristically light footsteps sounded just outside the door moments before she entered. She seemed to hesitate a few steps in, movement ceasing for a number of seconds before she continued over to his bedside. The sweet smell of peaches and mangos was more prominent than usual, and he guessed that she'd just taken a shower.

He counted to five in his head by the sound of her even breaths. Then he felt her shake his shoulder gently.

"Itachi-kun."

The elder Uchiha opened his eyes, blinking up at the pinkette languidly. She was peering down at him worriedly, emerald eyes roving over his features.

"I'm sorry for waking you up. I know how much trouble you have sleeping." She shifted her gaze over to the window, and he saw that it was still raining.

"Do not worry," Itachi murmured, sitting up.

Reaching over to retrieve his customary elastic band from his desk, he secured his hair into its low ponytail and moved off of his bed. He immediately to fix the sheets and was only slightly surprised to find that he had assistance.

"Fugaku-san is inviting one of his associates over for dinner," Sakura informed him casually as she straightened the sheets. Smoothing the black fabric with her fingers, she continued, "Mikoto-san requested that you be ready in twenty minutes."

Itachi nodded, noting Sakura's semi-formal blouse and jeans along with the damp towel hanging on her arm. He mentally decided on appropriate attire for himself as he pulled the sheets up to cover the pillows placed neatly at the head of the bed.

"I should go check on Sasuke-kun and make sure he's getting ready," she said to herself thoughtfully, drawing his attention. She was toweling the ends of her hair absently about to turn to the door, and he watched her movements with a sharp eye.

"Sakura." Her hands ceased and she turned to look at him curiously. "Are you feeling alright?"

She rolled her eyes in exasperation, a knowing smile curving her lips as she resumed toweling her hair.

"Didn't I already tell you that I'm fine?" she asked with a small laugh. "Don't worry, Itachi-kun."

Itachi studied her silently, and finding nothing outwardly wrong nodded once. A lingering frown remained. "Aa."

Sakura's smile softened, and he felt an odd sensation in the vicinity of his chest at the sight before she turned back to the door. "You should go ahead and start getting ready. I need to make sure that idiot of a brother of yours isn't taking too long. Again."

As the door clicked shut Itachi released a measure breath. The dissolving feeling wasn't entirely unpleasant, though he could still feel the slightest lingering pressure clenching in his chest. Unable to identify the emotion he padded to the bathroom, unsatisfied.

His mild displeasure persisted even as he undressed and stacked his clothes neatly to the side. He turned on the shower moments before stepping in, unfazed by the chilling spray that washed over him.

Sakura.

The sight of her pitching forward had suddenly quickened his pace greatly in order to steady her, and her dazed expression had unsettled him greatly. Deidara had looked on in understandable concern, but he hadn't failed to notice that their recently appointed Pre-Calculus teacher had been present as well, looking on with a mix of guilt and expectation that made him instantly suspicious. Sakura, as expected, was quick to defend the instructor.

Hatake Kakashi.

Itachi's mind strayed back to their decidedly odd initial encounter two days prior.

Having been returning to his classroom from an uneventful trip to the library he had seen the silver-haired man coming in his direction. He had intended to continue past without a word, but was surprised when the older man attempted small talk. His expression had appeared open, but Itachi was able to discern a veiled guard beneath that made him wary.

And then the man had deliberately mentioned Sakura. Almost as if he were fishing for information. He couldn't help stiffening at the thought of her associating with the stranger in any way other than was absolutely necessary.

And now Sakura seemed to be slowly warming up to him. The thought wasn't an agreeable one.

Turning off the now-warmed water, Itachi reached out for a towel. He stepped out of the shower, drying himself before wrapping the fabric loosely around his waist.

Sakura would not appreciate his _input_ in her personal relationships, so he would decide on an alternate course of action.

He pushed the thoughts away to be regarded at a later time. Striding back into his bedroom and heading to his dresser he pulled out a crisp, black button up, dark slacks, and a pair of boxers and dressed. He was fully clothed in less than five minutes.

Deeming himself presentable, Itachi left his room and stepped out into the hallway. The always-pleasant smell of a home-cooked dinner floated through the house, and he descended the stairs with a twitch of his lips. Light conversation could be heard from the dining room as he entered without a word.

Two pairs of dark eyes similar to his looked up at his arrival, but the livelier of the two surprised him.

He certainly hadn't been expecting this particular associate for dinner.

"Why, good evening dear cousin," the younger of the men seated greeted enthusiastically, grinning from ear to ear. "Fancy meeting you here."

* * *

**A/N: **And the plot begins to thicken, slowly but surely.(:

I confess that there are hints of a possible DeiSaku branch introduced here, and I apologize that there weren't any earlier warnings to those of you who may be averse to other possible pairings throughout the story. But my muse simply doesn't seem to want to keep Sakura's cutesiness contained to just the Uchiha brothers, it seems. ^^"

So, right here, I'll admit that there is the possibility of some MultiSaku coming up in the future chapters. (though I don't take back my statement that there will, in fact, be one clear winner in the end)

Shizuko is my OC, by the way. I haven't decided whether or not she'll be included later on, but as of right now, don't forget about her.(;

Thanks for all of the continued support you guys, especially my faithful reviewers who stick with me no matter what comes up. I feel like I don't tell you all enough how much you mean to me.(:

Yours truly,

Mistress Krane


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